Dharamsala: Move to recruit teachers as guest faculty opposed

Dharamsala, January 16

B.Ed and M.Ed degree holders organised a protest here today against the policy of the state government to recruit teachers in government schools as guest faculty. The protesters raised slogans against the government and threatened to intensify their agitation if the decision to recruit teachers in schools as guest faculty was not withdrawn.

They alleged that the government’s decision to recruit schoolteachers as guest faculty was exploitative in nature and illegal. A guest faculty means teachers, who occasionally come to school for delivering lectures.

However, the government was planning to recruit permanent schoolteachers as guest faculty. The means that the teachers, including JBT teachers in primary schools and B.Ed teachers in middle and senior secondary schools, would be paid on the lecture basis.

They alleged that the teachers recruited as guest faculty would not be entitled to any government benefit such as leave. Their services would be discontinued when the school closes for winter and summer vacations. It was for the first time that the government had taken such a decision, they claimed. They later submitted a memorandum of demands to the district administration.

ABVP members protest outside DC office

Shimla: ABVP members and other students staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Tuesday, demanding the withdrawal of the decision to recruit guest teachers in schools and colleges. ABVP leader Akash Negi claimed that the government was recruiting 2,600 guest teachers in schools and colleges on a lecture basis. He added that the ABVP would launch a statewide agitation if the decision was not taken back. The protesting students said that the decision was a big setback for the youth who were awaiting regular appointment as teachers in schools and colleges. TNS