Unemployed physical education teachers protest to defend their jobs; warn of aggressive protests if their demands are not met

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) (India), August 10 (ANI): Hundreds of unemployed physical education teachers braved heavy rains to protest in Shimla on Saturday. Organised by the Himachal Pradesh Physical Education Trained Teachers Association, the protesters demanded immediate filling of over 870 vacancies.

The teachers also called for an end to the ongoing recruitment process by staging a demonstration from Chaura Maidan to Vidhan Sabha. They warned that if the posts were not filled within a month, they would intensify their protest, taking their children and families with them.

Ramesh Rajput, one of the protesters, said they have been protesting for seven years and some of them have been on hunger strike for 10 days.

“We have been protesting for seven years and now we have been on hunger strike for 10 days. The government forcibly removed us from here. We are protesting because the government had advertised jobs, initiated the recruitment process and was supposed to start our counselling but the next day it was suddenly stopped,” he said.

He also explained that the recruitment process was suspended due to alleged non-compliance with RNP rules.

“We were told that the recruitment process was stalled because people were not following RNP rules. How can it be our fault when we had followed all the rules? We have crossed the age of 45 and still we are unemployed despite fulfilling all the requirements. This explanation is unacceptable to us,” Rajput said.

He added, “We are all qualified for these posts and we demand that our jobs should be secured within a month. Till now, we have been protesting peacefully but if our demands are not met, we will continue our hunger strike, this time with our children.” Kalpana Sharma, another protester, said, “We were protesting for our posts to be filled but the police removed us from the protest site at Chaura Maidan in Shimla. We demand that all 870 vacant posts should be filled within a month.” “We voted for this government but we did not get our posts. We are fully qualified but we remain unemployed. It is extremely disheartening that despite our qualifications, nothing is being done for us. Some women are protesting here with their children and if no action is taken, we will take our protest to the CM’s residence,” she added.

“We are demanding that 870 posts of physical education teachers be filled. We have fulfilled all the criteria and regulations and we insist that our posts should be filled. If our demands are not met, I will take my children with me and protest till they are filled,” said Sitaraman Sharma, another protester. (ANI)