Teachers meet Ludhiana DC, submit memorandum over long-standing demands
The protest is being organised to highlight issues being faced by school teachers, both financial and departmental, which the state govt has allegedly failed to address despite repeated appeals.
Teacher leaders, representing various unions such as Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), ETT 6635 Union, 4161 Master Cadre Union, and 2392 Teachers Union, met the DC. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Punjab chief minister, outlining a list of pending demands and informing the administration about the upcoming protest.
At the heart of their grievances is the job insecurity faced by thousands of teachers. Over 3,700 teachers from the Master Cadre and nearly 900 English teachers have been excluded from the final merit lists, placing their existing services and future at risk. Moreover, the issuance of show-cause notices regarding termination of services to these teachers has caused significant anxiety in the education community.
The unions are demanding that these notices be immediately revoked and that all affected teachers be granted job protection.
Similarly, educators promoted from ETT to Master Cadre and further to lecturer posts are calling for transparent, unbiased transfer policies, especially for special category teachers. They have demanded the immediate resumption of the 2025 general transfer process.
Speaking about the issue, Vikram Dev Singh, president, DTF, said the tardy promotion process leads to inconvenience to teachers.
Transfer policy is not followed for transfers. Transfers of teachers should be completed before the session starts, but it not done. Already delayed, this time of summer break is also a good time to begin the transfer process, so that teachers can reach the right schools by the time schools resume after summer break, however, generally, it is not being done and those with political approach rather get deputations they want, rather than following the proper channel.
Another major concern is the delay in promotions across all teaching and non-teaching cadres — from ETT to principals. Teachers are urging that all pending promotions be conducted promptly and fairly under the 75% promotion quota. They also demand that all vacant positions be openly declared before such promotions are finalised.
The protestors are also advocating for the regularisation of contractual and ad-hoc teachers, including computer teachers, merit-based appointees, associate teachers, and other temporary staff working under various schemes.
According to them, delays in issuing regularisation orders have led to discrimination and financial loss.
Teachers are also pushing for the restoration of the old pension scheme, rural and border area allowances, and the annual career progression (ACP) scheme, all of which they say have been unfairly withdrawn.
The warned that they would carry out protest on state-level protest June 11 unless their demands were met.
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On the occasion of his birth anniversary (August 15), it is appropriate to briefly look at Aurobindo's somewhat unusual biographical trajectory and a few of his crucial interventions that account for his distinction as a political thinker. Aurobindo Ghose was born in Calcutta on August 15, 1872 in a family significantly/deeply influenced by Brahmo Samaj. His father, Krishna Dhun Ghose, was an anglophile and wanted his three sons (Aurobindo being the youngest) to learn English language and culture. In 1879, Aurobindo's family moved to England so that the brothers could study and prepare for the prestigious Indian Civil Service (ICS). Raised in Manchester and educated in London and later at King's College, Cambridge, Aurobindo cleared the ICS examination but was disqualified for missing the riding test. After spending 14 years abroad, Aurobindo returned to India in 1893 and joined the Baroda Service, where he spent the next 13 years in various capacities alongside writing poetry. His stay at Baroda was also crucial in enabling him to distance himself from his English upbringing and education. He started learning Sanskrit and other Indian languages so as to have a more organic and intimate understanding of Indian culture. As Aurobindo delved deeper into understanding the core of Indian civilization and its foundational spirit, he became increasingly attentive to the question of Swaraj. This led to his involvement in political activities, which may be said to have begun in 1902. However, given the nature of his employment, his political activity had to remain covert. The Partition of Bengal in 1905 prompted him to take leave from the Baroda Service. In 1906, he left for Calcutta to serve as the Principal of Bengal National College (now Jadavpur University). Aurobindo joined a small faction of the Indian National Congress (INC) that identified itself as nationalist but was called by the majority faction of INC as 'extremist'. In 1907, he was prosecuted on charges of sedition. Though he was acquitted, his brief imprisonment turned him into the leader of the nationalist faction in Bengal. That same year, he presided over the historic Nationalist Conference in Surat, where the INC was officially split into two factions. Aurobindo was put behind bars again in 1908 for his alleged involvement in the Alipur Conspiracy Case. During his time in jail, he is said to have had spiritual experiences that led him to think beyond Swaraj. This was also the time he used for practicing yoga. When Aurobindo got out of prison in 1909, he found his party scattered and totally broken. He launched an English weekly, Karmayogin, and a Bengali weekly, Dharma, but despite his sincere efforts on multiple fronts, he was unable to revive the political unit he was once a part of. In April 1910, he left for Pondicherry, intending to return to Bengal when conditions became more favourable, but that never happened. His spiritual quest kept him in Pondicherry, effectively away from active politics until his death in December 1950. Before his withdrawal from public life, however, Aurobindo remained steadfast in his advocacy of passive resistance. Aurobindo remained committed to the idea of passive resistance throughout his stint as a perceptive political thinker. Much of his thinking, expressed in his articles for the weekly newspaper Bande Mataram, rested on his principled criticism of the INC's moderates, whose politics he viewed as convenient politics. For a comprehensive understanding of Aurobindo's conceptualisation of the philosophy, or, more appropriately, its praxis, one can turn to his article titled 'New Thought', published in Bande Mataram in April 1907. In this long reflection, he underlines the absolute necessity of self-development through self-help, even if it demands non-peaceful means, a qualifier that distinguishes his framework from Gandhi's. Outlining the core aim of passive resistance, Aurobindo highlights the significance of moving beyond articulating narrow concerns to opposing the fundamental and pernicious markers of the colonial system – a defining feature of independent political thinking. He argued that passive resistance is vital in demonstrating India's strong determination to be a free nation, thereby strengthening its claim for self-government and liberty. For Aurobindo, the case of passive resistance is linked to the necessity of liberty for the thriving of a nation. If a nation is to thrive, not merely survive, it must be willing to take any action necessary for its self-preservation. When the very life of a nation is attacked, Aurobindo believes every possible response towards reclaiming that life, non-violent or otherwise, is right, lawful, and justifiable. Aurobindo also draws a well-informed distinction between active and passive resistance by looking into their methods. 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In his work Hind Swaraj, published as more of a manifesto, Gandhi dedicates an entire chapter to passive resistance. He warns his readers against viewing it as a 'weapon of the weak'. He insisted instead that it is an expression of 'soul-force' or 'truth-force', premised on the courage of a higher order, and informed by absolute fearlessness. However, for Aurobindo, there was no alternative to 'the sword of the warrior' when it came to upholding justice, defending righteousness, and stopping oppression and exploitation. Moreover, as we get to know through his several letters and other reflections, Aurobindo regarded Gandhi as operating with a rigid mind, firmly fixed in his ways of seeing things and unlikely to change. For Aurobindo, nationalism – from his early writings on the subject to his final political interventions (from 1890 to 1910) – was not to be reduced to a political programme. It demanded much more from its adherents. 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