Lepcha para-teachers threaten hunger strike

A File picture

Rajeev Ravidas, TT, Kalimpong, May 11: The 46 Lepcha para-teachers recruited by the state government to teach the Lepcha language in primary schools in the hills have threatened to go on an indefinite hunger strike from Thursday if the GTA fails to formalise their appointments by then.

The Lepcha para-teachers have been staging a dharna since April 17, demanding that their appointments be formalised.

"Even though we have been on a dharna since April 17, nothing positive has accrued from it. We have now decided to go on an indefinite hunger strike from Thursday if the stalemate continues," said Robert Lepcha, a spokesman for the para-teachers.

The 27 male and 19 female teachers who are the selected candidates, he said, will go on the hunger strike.

GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung today iterated that the appointment of the Lepcha teachers was in violation of the GTA Act.

"The Lepchas should ask the state government where the schools that they have been appointed for, are located. Are they not in the GTA area? Let the Lepchas go and agitate in front of Nabanna," said Gurung at a small party programme here today.

On March 20, the GTA had filed a case in Calcutta High Court to challenge the legality of the state government's move to appoint the 46 para-teachers in 46 schools across Darjeeling district for teaching the Lepcha language.

The GTA, in its petition, had said that since the issue of appointment of teachers in Darjeeling primary schools was a GTA subject according to the GTA Act, 2011, the state had no authority to make such a move.

The petition also said that soon after a notification was issued to the deputy magistrate by the state to start appointing the teachers, Roshan Giri, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha secretary and the GTA executive member in-charge of school education, had written a letter to the DM.

Giri had requested the DM not to proceed with the Lepcha teacher selection process, as the state government's move to recruit para-teachers in primary schools in the hills was a violation of both the GTA agreement and the GTA Act since school education is a transferred subject.

On April 20, the high court refused to grant an interim stay on the appointment by the district magistrate but asked the state to file an affidavit stating its view on the confrontation between the state and the GTA over various issues.

The Lepcha para-teachers, however, insist that their jobs should be secured first.

"Why should anyone oppose us getting jobs. We are all unemployed. Some of us are even married and have to look after our families. However, our plight doesn't seem to make any sense to the administration," said Robert Lepcha.

The Mamata Banerjee government had passed an order on February 12, 2013, to establish a development board for the hill Lepcha community.