Garhshankar:- Government School Lecturers Union, Punjab has strongly condemned the inhumane lathicharge and use of tear gas by the police on teachers and organizations peacefully struggling for their legitimate demands. Terming this attitude of the government as unfortunate, the state president of the union, Sanjeev Kumar, said that in a democratic country, suppressing the voice of teachers with the force of a stick clearly reveals the administrative failure of the government.
He said that the decision to conduct TET examination has been taken by the Supreme Court in the context of lack of qualification in minority schools, while teachers who have fulfilled teaching qualifications have been and are being appointed in government schools of Punjab.
In Punjab, the working teachers have passed the entrance examination for ETT or B.Ed or have passed the teaching appointment examination, most of them are teaching after passing both the examinations. It is unreasonable and unconstitutional to ask teachers who have completed their teaching qualifications of their time to pass TET. He said that referring to the mentioned qualifications, the government can pass a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha and notify it. Along with this, a review petition can be filed in the Hon'ble Supreme Court. In the context of TGT teachers, the sections of middle and high posts can be made separately as it was done before the 2018 rules. Secretary General Ravinder Pal Singh, General Secretary Balraj Singh Bajwa, Senior Vice President Jagtar Singh Saidoke and Chief Advisor Sukhdev Singh Rana said that teachers have been on the streets for a long time for their rightful issues like employment and promotions.
Instead of solving the issues seriously, the government is taking the path of 'force'. Filling up the vacant posts and making the stalled promotions is mandatory for strengthening the education system. Union leaders Ranbir Singh Sohal, Jaspal Singh Walia, Parminder Kumar, Avtar Singh, Amarjit Singh Walia, Baljit Singh, Baldish Kumar and Jagtar Singh demanded from the Punjab government that the Punjab government should immediately file a review petition in the Supreme Court on the TET issue and a special resolution should be passed in the Vidhan Sabha to protect the interests of the teachers.
Along with this, an impartial and high-level investigation should be conducted into the incident of lathi-charge on the protesting teacher from time to time and their side should be heard regarding the rightful demands of the teachers and their reasonable solution should be given. So that the builders of the nation can take pride in the profession of teaching and their social status should be maintained. The union warned that if justice is not done to the teachers and their legitimate demands are not met, the struggle will be intensified, for which the Punjab government will be directly responsible.