Hill teachers claim promise

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 16: An apolitical association of temporary teachers in state-aided hill schools claimed today that education minister Partha Chatterjee had promised to fulfil the demand for the regularisation of jobs by December 15.

A five-member team of the Secondary Temporary Teachers' Organisation had met the minister at Bikash Bhavan in Calcutta yesterday to discuss the demand.

According to Amit Gurung, the president of the organisation, Chatterjee had told the delegation that a notification on the recruitment of temporary teachers would be published soon.

"Minister Chatterjee held a meeting in Bikash Bhavan yesterday regarding our demand for the regularisation of jobs of teachers who have been working for more than 20 years on temporary basis at state-aided schools across the hills. The meeting was also attended by the chairman and joint secretary of the state school service commission," he said.

"At the meeting, the minister assured us that in continuation with chief minister Mamata Banerjee's assurance to resolve our problem, a viable solution would be found before December 15," said Gurung

At the meeting, he claimed, Chatterjee had told them that the state would soon issue a notification in this regard. There are around 500 ad hoc teachers in the hills.

The STTO is a breakaway faction of the Janmukti Insecure Secondary Teachers' Organisation - a frontal organisation of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

These teachers, sources said, have been appointed by the managing committees of the schools and receive remunerations ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. They are paid from the schools' funds.

The STTO representatives said it had 300 members.

In September, the voluntary teachers had met the chief minister in Kalimpong where she had purportedly promised that they would be made permanent in six months.

Gurung had said in the past that the teachers would shift allegiance to Trinamul if their demand for regularisation was fulfilled by the state government.