Himachal teachers threaten hunger strike from Jan 26 over regularisation demand

On Tuesday, teachers appointed by school management committees declared that if their regularization is not confirmed by January 25, they will commence a sustained hunger strike from the following day. Speaking to the press, Sunil, the President of the School Management Committees’ Teachers Union, stated that they have persistently advocated for service regularization and had previously staged a protest outside the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat in October last year to emphasize their demand.

The teachers, however, called off their protest then after an assurance from Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and a cabinet sub-committee was constituted which was supposed to submit its report in this regard by December 31 but nothing has been done so far.
Demanding regularisation of their services on the lines of Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Primary Assistant Teachers (PAT) and PARA teachers, the Teachers Union urged the government to regularise their services on the occasion of statehood day that falls on January 25.

There are around 2,500 teachers appointed by the school management committees who are presently serving in far flung areas of the state. They teachers appointed by the school management committees rue that the state government has regularised the temporary teachers recruited from time to time, but they have not been given their due despite fulfilling the minimum qualification.

The teachers further warned of a massive protest that will include the boycott of classes and gherao of the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat if their demands are not fulfilled by the state government.