Youth remove shirts at protest for teacher jobs

Patiala: Worried over the worsening condition of a co-protester who has been sitting on a mobile tower in Patiala for 99 days, a large number of TET-pass ETT unemployed teachers on Sunday staged a protest over their demands and took out a march without wearing shirts.
Protesters also wrote their demands on their body. They claimed that the health of protester Surinderpal of Gurdaspur had been deteriorating as he had started hunger strike a week ago, whereas he had already been sitting on protest on the mobile tower for 99 days.
“We tried to convince him to come down and call off his hunger strike. We are worried about his health. His blood sugar level has fallen to 40 and he seems to have lost too much weight. We offered him juice and chocolates, but he refused and demanded that the government should at least provide a written assurance over the demands, including notification of 10,000 posts and preference to ETT in 2,364 posts already advertised, and had undergone selection proceedings,” said Deep Banarsi, press secretary of the teachers’ front.
“We blocked the road near Leela Bhawan on Sunday for around half an hour, and later marched towards YPS Chowk without wearing our shirts and T-shirts. We asked the administration to at least once visit the protester. The government should either provide assurance or release a notification to fill ETT posts before it is too late,” added Banarsi.
Meeting between representatives of the protesters, Punjab education secretary and minister Vijay Inder Singla have been held twice this month, but remained fruitless as the protesters wanted an assurance in writing and release of notification for new posts. These protesters have faced a lathi-charge several times during their protest.
Protesters are demanding the recruitment of only ETT-TET pass unemployed teachers for the advertised 2,364 elementary teacher training (ETT) posts, including 664 backlog posts. Besides, protesters are demanding notification for recruitment of 10,000 posts of ETT teachers. Also, they want extension in the age limit from 37 years to 42 years in recruitment on grounds that many had turned overage while waiting for jobs.