Bhopal: Women guest faculty members of government colleges in Madhya Pradesh have threatened to tonsure their heads on March 8 and self-immolate if their demand of regularisation of jobs is not met immediately.
The guest faculty staff, whose protest in the state capital entered the 83rd day on Monday, said the Kamal Nath-led Congress government is ignoring their basic demand.
One of the women teachers, Lashkari Das, got her head tonsured as mark of the protest at the Shahjehani Park, where the stir has been underway since Dec 2, 2019.
“Regularisation as promised by the Congress leaders is the only demand we are making,” Das told reporters. A senior member of agitating teachers, Devraj Singh, also got his head tonsured in solidarity with Das.
Asked what would be next step if the state government fails to fulfil their demand, Das said women teachers would go for tonsuring en masse on Women’s Day and then, they would be compelled to immolate themselves.
On February 19, another teacher, Shaheen Khan, had gone bald in protest and sent her hair to the address of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
On being told that Higher Education Minister Jitu Patwari had announced to fill up 1,250 posts with guest faculties, Khan said this should be done through the department portal.
The faculty members have lost three of their collegaues, one of them committing suicide over the issue, ever since the agitation was launched.
Surjeet Singh Bhadauria, the convener of the protest, said the teachers would not compromise on their protest unless orders for regularisation are issued.
Thousands of guest faculties were employed with government colleges for years, but recently the state government started filling up these posts with candidates who had cleared the Public Service Commission exam, following which about 4,500 lost their jobs and launched a stir in Bhopal.
Earlier, Patwari had said no guest faculty member would be sacked from government colleges, but the teachers are insisting on written orders.
Comments
0 comment