18 yrs on job, but ‘no parity’. Why Haryana guest teachers are planning stir in Khattar’s constituency

Around 13,000 guest teachers were hired in 2005-07 amid shortage of regular teachers. But govt official says guest teachers 'not at par as their recruitment based on village-level merit'.

Representational image | Flickr

Gurugram: Guest teachers in Haryana’s government schools, who have been seeking regularisation of their services for years now, will be holding a protest rally in Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s assembly constituency of Karnal on 7 September.

Confirming the plans, Ajay Lohan, a spokesperson of guest teachers’ body the Rajkiya Atithi Adhyapak Manch (RAAM), told ThePrint that while their salaries have been increased over the years, there is still a huge disparity compared to the pay regular teachers receive.

Over the years, guest teachers have organised dozens of agitations including one on 7 September 2008, when one of them, Raj Rani, died during police firing on more than 5,000 protesters marching towards the residence of then CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Explaining how the process of hiring guest teachers came about, Yagya Dutt Verma, a retired district officer of the Haryana education department, told ThePrint, “When the Hooda government came to power in October 2005, there was shortage of teachers in schools. Since new recruitments is a long process, the government made a stop-gap arrangement in the form of guest teachers. The idea was to hire them till regular teachers joined. However, due to political reasons, they were never removed even as regular teachers kept joining.”

According to RAAM spokesperson Lohan, the state government began recruiting guest teachers in 2005 and it continued for the next two years. Some of these 13,000-odd teachers have already put in 18 years of service even as the government has regularly recruited regular teachers for various categories.

The state government had brought in the Haryana Guest Teachers Services Act, 2019, which ensures the continuation of their service till the age of 58 and revision of their salaries twice a year, based on the price index.

RAAM president Rajendra Shastri said regularisation of the services of guest teachers was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) poll manifesto in the 2014 assembly elections as well. However, the promise was never kept, he rued.

Meanwhile, Jawahar Yadav, officer on special duty (OSD) with CM Khattar, told ThePrint, “The government not only continued their services but also brought in an Act to ensure they could work till the age of 58. JBTs (junior basic teachers), TGTs (trained graduate teachers), and PGTs (post-graduate teachers) are now getting Rs 32,500, Rs 37,500, and Rs 45,000 respectively.” 

However, retired district education officer Verma, quoted earlier, said guest teachers “can’t be considered at par with regular teachers”, as the sole criterion for guest teachers was for candidates to be from the same village as the school. If such a candidate wasn’t available, then the net was cast wider to appoint someone from the same block, the same subdivision, and finally, the same district.

“This meant that if a candidate was from the same village, but with a third division degree, they would get preference over someone with better marks but from another village. This way, the recruitment was based on village-level merit. No advertisements were given to invite applications. No reservation criteria were followed,” he added.

What are their demands

Guest teachers’ demand for regularisation includes parity in pension, LTC (Leave Travel Concession), medical insurance, provident fund (PF) etc.

RAAM spokesperson Lohan said: “We want regularisation of our jobs because there is a huge disparity in salaries of regular teachers and guest teachers. For example, a guest TGT, even after 18 years of service, gets Rs 37,500 per month,” he said.

“In contrast,” he went on to say, “a newly recruited TGT gets a basic salary of Rs 44,900. With 42 percent dearness allowance and house rent allowance and some other benefits, a regular TGT gets close to Rs 70,000 per month. TGTs with 18 years of experience are getting above Rs 1 lakh.”  

Lohan further said that initially, guest teachers were being paid on the basis of workload. The primary teachers, JBTs got fixed daily wages of Rs 225 till 1 January 2008, which was hiked to Rs 295.

“In 2008, when we agitated for a fixed salary, post our colleague’s death in police firing, the then government relented. From 1 April 2009, the government started paying a monthly salary of Rs 10,000 to JBT and drawing teachers, Rs 11,000 for TGTs, and Rs 13,500 to PGTs (post graduate teachers),” he added.

Guest teachers in the state have even faced the risk of being relieved of duty. On 30 March 2011, on a petition by teachers’ eligibility test (TET)-qualified candidates, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government to fill vacancies of regular teachers by 31 March 2012, by relieving guest teachers. 

The government sought an extension for six months, but this plea was rejected by the High Court on 16 March the next year. The government went on to relieve 3,000-odd guest teachers, only to reinstate them in 2016, following a Supreme Court order. 

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)