UDHAMPUR, Aug 2: The Jammu and Kashmir Teachers’ Joint Action Committee (JKTJAC) on Sunday held its monthly meeting at Udhampur under the leadership of UT President Vinod Sharma and District President Udhampur Lekh Raj Parihar, where members discussed several long-pending issues concerning the teaching fraternity and urged the government to address them on priority.
The meeting witnessed participation from executive members of JKTJAC representing all educational zones of Udhampur district. Addressing the gathering, Vinod Sharma highlighted a series of genuine and pressing concerns affecting teachers across Jammu and Kashmir.
He strongly demanded the formulation of a transfer policy for teachers appointed under the ReT (Rehbar-e-Taleem) scheme, pointing out that many of them have been serving in the same schools for more than two decades without any transfer opportunity.
Sharma also called for the immediate release of pending Mid-Day Meal dues, which have remained unpaid for the last seven to eight months, stating that the delay has created unnecessary hardships and requires urgent intervention by the authorities.
Among other demands, he sought the conversion of Education Volunteers into ReTs, noting that the relevant files have been pending with the Administrative Department. He further demanded the conversion of the remaining RRETs into Teacher Grade-II/III posts and urged the government to grant post facto permission for undergraduate degrees acquired by teachers during service so they can be considered for promotion to Teacher Grade-II.
He also appealed to the authorities to recognize more than one postgraduate degree earned by teachers for determining seniority.
Speaking on the occasion, District President Lekh Raj Parihar demanded the release of time-barred arrears of teachers from Tikri and Panchari zones. He further urged the Chief Education Officer, Udhampur, to ensure the timely completion of service records of teachers and masters in various zones so that employees do not face administrative or promotional hurdles.
Several members, including Sukesh Khajuria, Pritam Goswami, Sandeep Sharma, Jagdish Chander Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Anil Sharma, Amit Gupta, Mohd Mustafa, Gopal Sharma, Rajiv Sharma, Kuldeep Sharma, Ravi Kumar, Sham Bharti, Arjun Singh, Ankush Sharma and others, also addressed the meeting and expressed support for the demands raised by the committee.