Guest Teachers: A foot-ball of politics?
JAG MOHAN THAKEN
In India, 4.70 Crore students abort schools mid-way,
at higher secondary level, annually. The country adds-up a big platoon of
qualified- but- unemployed teachers, every year. Yet, the Government schools
are being run by the Guest teachers along with only a few permanent ones. Why?
The seven decades after independence, and we lack a
proper Education-Policy!
What a sorry state of affairs!
Although, the Right to Education has been enacted
way back, the Government schools have not been properly provided with permanent
qualified teachers.
Just to adjust their own supporters, and sometimes
in the name of curtailing the budgetary expenditures, shortcuts have been
devised in the appointment of teachers, by the state-governments.
Nearly fifteen thousand guest teachers- appointed
during 2005- 2007 congress led government in Haryana, for a temporary
arrangement, are still waiting to be regularized. Whenever the transfers of
permanent teachers are executed, always the guest teachers become scapegoats
.When a regular teacher joins against a guest teacher, he is relieved of his duties
for an uncertain period and nothing is paid to him for the time being.
Ashok Kumar , a guest teacher , who is now ‘on-
road’ for a fortnight due to transfer of a regular teacher against him, says- “How
hardly such a low paid guest teacher, always having a sword of removal hanging on his head,
manages his family affairs , only he knows.”
When the mentors themselves are
uncertain of their daily bread and butter, how the students can be assure of
their future?
A ‘Retired Teachers’ Union’ leader , Master Chhotu Ram Arya says , “ This
is a crime to humanity as it kills the aspirations of the students as well as
the guest teachers ,who have been
imparted the duty of grooming the future of these toddlers .”
Agitations and protests are held time and again by
the guest teachers in various states to voice their concerns. Recently too, a
state level rally has been convened on October, 29 at Karnal in union meeting
of guest teachers of Haryana held in Kurukshetra on October, 1 , to warm up
their agitation for the regularization.
Usually, governments don’t pay heed to such
demonstrations, but the latest decision of Delhi’s AAP government to regularize
the services of 15000 guest teachers has heated up the political environment of
the ‘state- without powers’ to its elected government. Whether it gets
implemented or not, the sudden decision has certainly questioned the intent of
the two largest national parties -BJP and Congress. BJP is in a fix, whether to
support the decision or to oppose it. In both ways the BJP finds itself in deep
water. If it concurs with AAP, it gets no credit, if it doesn’t- it loses the
support, sympathy and vote bank of these guest teachers. So the dilemma is-
whether to play a ‘villain’ or an ‘assistant- hero’.
While, the BJP’s State -President, Manoj Tiwari, claims
that the decision has been taken by the AAP government under the pressure of
BJP, as they are pressing the Delhi government since 2013 for regularization of
these teachers, on the other hand President of Delhi state congress , Ajay
Makan , asks- Why the AAP party government has delayed the process for more
than three years ? Who barricaded them? He alleges that the AAP party is befooling
the guest teachers and making the issue a tool for escalating its political propaganda.
The critics smell a political stink in the
statements of both the leading national parties, on the issue.
Here the political critics raise the question- if
the BJP is such a patron of guest teachers, why its own government in Haryana
since 2014, is lingering on the regularization of guest teachers in the state-
agitating since last 12 years? The earlier congress regime too, in Haryana is
being chided for creating the problem of guest teachers during its tenure from
2004 to 2014. Why had they not made the regular appointments?
Amidst all these never-ending political blame-games,
a few questions seem to be unanswered, as always.
If the government considers these guest teachers as
qualified enough for imparting education to the students, why it is not
regularizing their services in Haryana? Or, if these teachers are unfit for the
Education- Department, why the future of the children of the state is left to
rot, in the unqualified hands of these guest teachers? Can the prime- time of
their life, spoilt by these incapable, incompetent and unqualified guest
teachers be ever restored to these innocent children?
What a cruel fun the government is making of these
children and their parents, who could not afford costly private schools! Why
the government should not think over the issue seriously and without no loss of
time ascertain the fate of these unlucky students and guest teachers ?
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