UDHAMPUR, Nov 1: The Jammu Kashmir Teachers’ Joint Action Committee (JKTJAC) held its monthly meeting at Udhampur on Sunday under the leadership of UT President Vinod Sharma and District President Udhampur Lekh Raj Parihar. The meeting was attended by executive members representing all eleven zones of district Udhampur, who discussed various long-pending issues concerning teachers and the education sector.
Addressing the gathering, Vinod Sharma strongly demanded the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for all Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers appointed before January 1, 2010, but regularised as General Line Teachers after that date. He also demanded the extension of Government Order No. 305-F to these teachers, urging the Chief Minister and Education Minister to consider the matter sympathetically in the interest of thousands of affected employees.
Highlighting the issue of pending Mid-Day Meal dues, Sharma expressed concern that teachers had been managing expenses from their own pockets for more than eight months. He said teachers were now finding it difficult to continue bearing the financial burden, which could adversely affect the implementation of the Poshan Scheme in schools. He urged the concerned authorities to release all pending dues without further delay.
He also appealed to Education Minister Shamim Firdous to issue the long-awaited transfer policy for teachers appointed under the ReT scheme, stating that the matter had already reached its final stage.
Raising concerns over career progression and stagnation, Sharma urged the Director of School Education, Jammu, to initiate the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) process for the promotion of teachers to the Master grade. He pointed out that several Master-level posts were lying vacant while many teachers had continued working in the same cadre for more than 20 years without promotional opportunities.
Other issues highlighted during the meeting included the regularisation of EV-converted ReTs whose files are pending in the Administrative Department, sanctioning of Master posts in middle schools upgraded under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), issuance of the transfer policy for ReT-appointed teachers and acceptance of undergraduate degrees acquired by teachers during service through post-facto permission to facilitate their conversion into Teacher Grade-II.
Speaking on the occasion, District President Lekh Raj Parihar appealed to the Chief Education Officer, Udhampur, to issue necessary directions to Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) for the completion and proper maintenance of teachers’ service records. He also demanded the release of pending time-barred arrears of teachers.
Several other office-bearers and members also participated in the deliberations and highlighted issues concerning teachers’ service conditions and professional welfare. Those who spoke included Sham Sharma, UT Chief Finance Secretary; Sukesh Khajuria, UT Chief Press and Media Secretary; Khazan Singh, Chief Coordinator; Sandeep Sharma, UT Organiser; Ashok Seth, Provincial Vice-President; Pritam Goswami, Provincial Finance Secretary; Ravinder Singh Rathore, General Secretary; and Shamsher Singh, District Finance Secretary.
Jagdish Chander Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Vipin Raina, Prashant Sharma, Arjun Singh, Om Parkash, Raj Kumar Pathania, Bodh Raj, Avtar Singh, Amit Gupta, Gopal Sharma, Som Raj Sharma, Puran Chand, Ravinder Atri, Sham Bharti, Sanjay Sharma, Yash Paul, Subash Chander, Devinder Singh and several others were also present.
The meeting concluded with a collective call for the timely resolution of teachers’ long-pending demands and improvement in their service conditions.