Seeking jobs, unemployed teachers block Ludhiana-sangrur road
SANGRUR: Scores of aspiring Elementary Teachers Training ( ETT) pass- outs blocked the Ludhiana- Sangrur road at Babanpur canal, near Dhuri, on Sunday claiming that the Congress state government had failed to give them jobs, even though the party had made the promise in its manifesto.
The state government appoint teachers based on qualification and the tests they have cleared.
Deepak Kamboj, state chief of the union, said the government had sanctioned only 2,364 posts of ETT teachers in Punjab but the education department was also considering BED candidates for these vacancies.
“We have been fighting for jobs since 2016 and held a seven- month protest last year. However, the government is not paying heed. Unemployed ETT and TET pass teachers have been protesting outside the district administration complex for the past six days, but we were forced to hold a dharna at the canal by the government,” said Sandeep Sama, senior vice- president of the union.
The union leaders demanded that the 10,000 more posts of ETT teachers should be advertised and only ETT candidates should be considered for these posts.
Dhuri SDM Latif Ahmed visited the protest site and tried to pacify them but they refused to budge from the road.
“I asked them for a meeting with the deputy commissioner but they were not ready to call off the protest. Talks are on,” added the SDM.
Dharna outside Singla’s residence enters day 11
The protest of Unemployed BED Teachers’ Union, Punjab 873 DPE Teachers Union, 646 PTI Teachers Union Punjab, Unemployed Art & Craft Union Punjab and Unemployed Multipurpose Health Workers Union, Punjab, outside the residence of state school education minister Vijay Inder Singla entered into its 11th day on Sunday.
They started the indefinite protest on December 31, under the banner of Berozgar Sanjha Morcha seeking jobs after ‘taking inspiration from the ongoing farmers’ agitation’.