UP CM Akhilesh Yadav promises 'all possible help' to Shiksha Mitras

Lucknow, Sep 21: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday promised "all possible help" to contractual teachers to resolve the problem arising out of Allahabad High Court order striking down their regularisation by the state government.

He also assured a six-member delegation of 'Shiksha Mitras' which met him here that the state government would find out ways to regularise their jobs.

"The Chief Minister assured us all possible help and said that the government is actively considering ways and means to find out a way to ensure that our honour and dignity is maintained and we get our rightful place," Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shikshak Mitra Sangh Patron Shiv Kumar Shukla said.

The government has invited a six-member team from Maharashtra where 'Shiksha Mitras' have been absorbed in regular service so that a procedure for doing the same in Uttar Pradesh could be found, Shukla said.

"The Chief Minister has asked us to start attending schools from tomorrow," he said. Minister for Basic Education Ram Govind Chaudhary, who was also present in the meeting, said, "We are working on finding out a way to help 'Shiksha Mitras' without violating the law ...we want to find out the best course."

Around 1.72 lakh 'Shiksha Mitras' across the state have been agitating since September 12 when Allahabad High Court declared as illegal the state government's move to regularise them and appoint them as assistant teachers.

A special three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice Yashwant Verma, had quashed the amendments brought in the state education department's rules whereby 'Shiksha Mitras' were being regularised.

The court ruled that the state government's move violated the norms laid down by National Council for Teachers' Education (NCTE) as well as the provisions of the Right to Education Act, 2010, both of which lay down that only those candidates could be appointed against regular vacancies for teachers who had cleared the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET).

Contractual teachers across UP have even sought the President and Prime Minister's permission for euthanasia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Varanasi last week had advised 'Shiksha Mitras' not to adopt the route of suicide and assured them that once the court order came he would take up the issue with the state government.

PTI