[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 1 Jun: One of the main promises made by the ruling BJP in its manifesto for the 2019 assembly election was to regularise contractual teachers under the Integrated Scheme for School Education (ISSE) including vocational teachers in a phased manner.
With the 2024 assembly election just months away, the teachers – in particular the vocational teachers – are waiting for the ruling party to fulfil its promise.
Altogether 187 vocational teachers are serving in the state under the ISSE in the education department.
These teachers were appointed under the erstwhile Rashtriya Madyamik Shikhsa Abhiyan (RMSA), starting from 2015. But from June 2018 onwards, they have become part of the ISSE as vocational resource teachers for teaching information technology, and travel and tourism. In May 2022, the cabinet approved regularisation of the erstwhile RMSA TGTs under the secondary education directorate. The vocational teachers, who were also appointed under the RMSA, were not included by the department while carrying out the regularisation process.
Not only have they been denied regularisation of service, they have also been denied salary enhancement. The government of Arunachal, through a notification in 2018 announced the enhancement of the salaries of all teachers (contractual) working under the ISSE (SSA/RMSA) with effect from 1 April, 2018. However, the salaries of the vocational teachers have not been raised till date.
“In 2021, the Assam government decided to provide salary as per the ROP in the PB-2 (Rs 14,000 to Rs 49, 000) with grade pay of Rs 8,700 and continuation of service till the age of 60 years without any pension benefits. In Haryana, the vocational teachers are paid Rs 44,900 per month for their service. But our salaries have not been enhanced despite the government making announcements in this regard,” said a vocational teacher.
Most of these teachers are working as PGTs, teaching students from Class 9 to 12, and shouldering the responsibility of running schools in various parts of the state. “We are working sincerely and performing every task assigned to us. Since the day of appointment, we are getting a consolidated salary of Rs 25,000 per month. Many of the teachers who are posted in far-flung areas find it very difficult to manage with this salary. They have families to look after and, day by day, inflation is rising,” the teacher added.
The National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 has given massive importance to the integration of vocational education programmes into the mainstream education in all educational institutions. “Even though the central government through NEP is giving importance to the vocation education programme, in our state the vocational teachers are not given their due,” the teacher lamented.
Left with no choice, they have, under the banner of the All Arunachal Vocational Education Teachers’ Association, knocked the doors of the authorities several times to seek fulfilment of the promises made to them. “We have met the top leadership of the state in this regard. Apart from reminding them of the promise to regularise our job, we also requested them to at least enhance our salaries. But so far there is no success. We are quite frustrated with the situation and would like to appeal to the state government to look into our case sympathetically,” the vocational teacher added.
