* ‘Education Revolution’ exposed; teachers troubled by vacant posts, pending salaries, police action, and non-academic work
Nawanshahr, (Asian independent) (Jatinderpal Singh Kaler): On the occasion of Teacher’s Day, the Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of betraying Punjab’s teachers and turning its much-touted ‘education revolution’ into a hollow political slogan. Issuing a press note, BJP District President Rajwinder Singh Lucky said that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann calls himself a teacher’s son, but under his government, teachers are facing humiliation, police action, and neglect.He said, “For the government teachers of Punjab, this is not a celebration, but a black day. Teachers who shape the future of Punjab are being forced to take to the streets for their legitimate rights.” High-lighting the severe shortage of teachers in government schools, the BJP stated that 31,370 teacher posts are vacant in the state. In addition, over 1,100 approved principal posts and about one-third of DEO posts are also vacant. The party alleged that over 1,700 teaching and non-teaching employees in more than 400 aided schools have been working without salaries for the past 8 to 19 months. Despite a stay by the High Court, the government reduced their grade pay from ₹4,400 to ₹3,200. Accusing the government of ignoring the reservation rights of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Backward Classes (BC) categories, the BJP stated that no reservation was provided for SC and BC candidates in the notification for 1,013 lecturer posts, whereas 25 percent reservation is mandatory. Following this, the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission took suo motu cognizance of the matter. The party also cornered the government for failing to complete the new recruitment of 1,158 assistant professors and librarians, while the government had assured the Supreme Court to complete the recruitment by February 2026. Lucky said, “Teachers were promised that they would not have to climb water tanks again, but today they are forced to climb mobile towers to get justice.”The BJP also strongly condemned engaging teachers in non-academic work such as surveys, stubble burning checks, health card creation, and collecting political data. He said, “Teachers are neither surveyors nor political activists; they are the creators of Punjab’s future.” The party assured that upon the formation of a BJP government, vacant posts will be filled, unnecessary non-academic work will be eliminated, and the dignity, respect, and security of teachers will be fully restored.
