Teachers protest in Ludhiana against government's policies.
Ludhiana: Hundreds of teachers comprising teacher unions, including Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), 6635 ETT Teachers Union, 4161 Master Cadre Union, and several other affiliated groups, protested on Ferozepur Road near the office of Rajya Sabha MP and Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Sanjeev Arora on Wednesday, raising slogans against the government for not having accepted their long-standing demands and not addressing educational and employment-related concerns.
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State president of DTF Vikram Dev Singh, Sandeep Gill of 4161 Teachers Union, Gurbakhshish Singh of 899 English Teacher Union, and other unions address the teachers and spoke about several issues and problems being faced by educators.
Union leaders from these unions accused the government of betraying the teaching community, stating that despite repeated assurances, policies continue to marginalize teachers and deny them their rightful dues.
The so-called Sikhya Kranti by the Punjab government is nothing more than a hollow slogan, said Vikram Dev Singh from DTF highlighting the growing disillusionment among educators.
They also demanded the withdrawal of termination notices issued to several master and ETT cadre teachers, who were excluded from merit lists due to technical reasons.
They also raised concerns about the lack of transfer options for promoted teachers, despite serving far from home for years.
The demands also included implementing court orders granting full pay scales to 5,178 teachers, and more.
The unions called for the regularization of Meritorious School teachers with full benefits.
Other key issues raised included restoring pending DA arrears. They also demanded that the rural and border area allowances be restored which were key to encourage teachers to teach in rural areas.
As tensions rose, teachers also clashed briefly with the police during a protest march, but later agreed to conclude the rally after confirming upcoming meetings with the Education Secretary on June 13 and the Chief Minister on June 18 in Chandigarh.
They issued a stern warning to the government that if their demands are not met, the struggle will intensify the stir across the state.
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