Tripura: Government teachers protest termination of jobs

Facing termination of jobs due to court orders, a fragment of around 10,323 Tripura government teachers continued their incessant 48-hours demonstration on Sunday who sought alternative arrangements to keep their jobs. Bimal Saha, leader of the protesting teachers, and other teachers informed that they would deepen their protests if the state government does not take steps to safeguard their jobs. According to the President of the 'All Tripura 10,323 Ad-hoc Teachers' Association', so far 50 teachers had died or committed suicide. He urged the state government to offer a job to the family members of those 50 teachers who had died.

Since 2010, when the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front government was in power, more than 10,323 government teachers with graduate, post-graduate and under-graduate educational qualifications were hired into the Tripura government schools in different phases. The induction of these teachers afterward went to litigation. In 2014, Tripura High Court dismissed all the 10,323 teachers, asserting their selection criterion had inconsistencies. Since then, special leave petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by the then Left Front government and a section of teachers. On March 29, 2017, the Supreme Court supported the decision of the High Court.

The Supreme Court extended their services up to June last year after an appeal by the previous government. After coming to power in March last year, the BJP-led government had filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court. The apex court had given them one-time final leeway of their services till March 2020. According to an official of the Education Department, by means of a number of the recruitment process, several teachers have been inducted in other government positions including Teachers Eligibility Tests (TET), most of them are facing job losses.

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