'Towering protests' by teachers gathers pace, government says no go

As winter sets in and nights become steadily colder, they sit firm on their 100-feet-high perch, determined to not get off till the government accepts their demand for jobs as teachers. And one month after Rakesh Kumar and Deepak Kumar climbed a mobile tower here, at least 40 more have joined the cause on the water towers in Jalalabad this week.

In the early hours of November 3, Rakesh, 31, from Gurdaspur and Deepak, 35, from Fazilka ascended the mobile tower near Punjab Bhavan. Both had passed the government's Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) but were not provided jobs. As they sit, undeterred by dipping temperatures, staying for a month with minimal food and somehow managing their daily body needs, the protests have snowballed across the state.

On Wednesday, 40 others, including 13 women, joined them from various districts, who climbed different water towers, a'la Sholay, in Jalalabad, which is also Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal's constituency. Efforts by the police to remove the protesters failed after they threatened to immolate themselves.

As the issue acquired political overtones, AAP MP from Sangrur, Bhagwant Mann, met the protesters on Wednesday. The government said there were no job guarantees.

"We have carried out recruitment as per procedures. The TET is an eligibility test and does not guarantee a job. The posts left vacant are those reserved for ex-servicemen, freedom fighters and others. The education department cannot alone take a call to de-reserve it. There are set procedures," Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema told DNA.

The protests, which have seen hundreds of teachers express solidarity, is being held under the banner of Elementary Teachers Training (ETT) Teachers Eligibility Test (TET)-Pass Unemployed Teachers Union. The teachers are demanding that all candidates who had qualified TET from 2011-16 be given government jobs.

The education department had advertised 6,505 posts of elementary teachers for Classes I to V. As many as 5,500 teachers qualified the test. Of these, 4,800 were given appointment letters. That left about 700 teachers, who had qualified the exam, without jobs.

Union members say the government should de-reserve the posts and recruit qualifying candidates. "There are vacant posts and qualified candidates are still jobless. We will not give up and will protest in other districts as well," said Amarjit Singh Kamboj, president of the union.

The desperation is growing with each passing day, say the protestors.

"We are left with no option but to leave our homes and sit on protest. We had been waiting for over three years. There are over 1,000 vacant posts, but the government does not want to recruit us," said Anju, who has passed TET.

"There has been complete mismanagement by the government. After completing Class XII, I enrolled for the two-year diploma for elementary teachers. I qualified TET in 2011 and since then I have been waiting, counting on government assurances. We have been left in the lurch as we cannot even get a teaching job elsewhere with only a diploma," added Kamal Thakur.