EGS/AIE/STR volunteers seek post of pre-primary teacher

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, October 12

Working on contractual basis for the past 14 years, teachers recruited under the Alternative Inclusive Education (AIE) and Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), have demanded regularisation asking the state government to accommodate them in pre-primary classes started under ‘Parho Punjab, Parhao Punjab’ mission.

Saying that the state Education Department has planned to transfer EGS/AIE/STR volunteers to pre-primary schools as a part of the rationalisation policy and decided to assign them additional task of taking care and teaching pre-primary kids besides carrying out surveys of students in their respective villages.

They said, “The teachers are working on contractual basis since past 14 years, and drawing a salary of Rs 5,000, how can the department assign any additional work until they regularise our services.”

Elaborating on their demands, member of the EGS AIE /STR Teachers’ Union, Nishant Kumar, said, “Since 2003, we have been working on a contractual basis at government primary schools. After some union members laid down their lives, our salaries were increased in 2014. We are still getting Rs 5,000 per month,”he added.

He said, “The Education Secretary has accepted the DEO’s demand of shifting us to other schools that are 15 to 20 km far from our respective villages or schools.”

Alleging that the state Education Department has failed to provide any facility at schools at the rural level, he said many schools of poor villages do not have any regular teacher and were being solely managed either by education providers or Education Guarantee Scheme-Alternative and Innovative Education (EGS-AIE) teachers, but despite that the government had no plan to accommodate us in pre-primary classes as permanent teachers.

Harvinder Singh, a member of the union said: “Although the regular teachers are drawing 10 times salary than education providers and EGS volunteers get, they choose to stay away from schools in remote areas. The government should realise that meagre salaries of education providers and EGS teachers are the major drawbacks in providing quality education at rural schools,” he added.