Previous govts ignored demands of teachers: Himachal CM

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 6 : Himachal Padesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday said that the previous state government completely ignored the demands of PTA, PAT and Para teachers, but the present government understood the pain of these teachers serving in the government schools and tried to find solutions to their various issues.
Jai Ram Thakur was leading a function organised by the PTA Regular Teachers Association to felicitate him at Hotel Peterhof on Thursday evening.
General Secretary of PTA Regular Teachers Association Shishupal Rajata, Vivek Mehta, Mamraj Pundir and other office bearers of the association were present on the occasion.
The Chief Minister said that the state government was working with commitment to provide quality education to the students, in which the teachers of the State were making appreciable contribution. He said that teachers had always played a pivotal role in nation building and the development of citizens and society was not possible without their guidance.
He said, "PTA teachers had rendered their services in remote areas for years with full honesty and integrity and the government was well aware of their demands. He said that after the continuous efforts of the present state government, these teachers had been merged in the department. About 6500 PTAs, 3300 PATs and 97 Para teachers of the state had been benefited by this decision".
He also said that the state government had also regularized 1368 PTA teachers who were left out due to the gap period and late arrival of documents in the Directorate of Education.
Jai Ram Thakur assured that the state government was considering to provide benefits of regularization to the regular PTA teachers from the previous date (retrospectively). The Finance Secretary had been asked to study its financial and other aspects and submit the report. He said that the state government had also fulfilled many other demands like provision of casual, medical and maternity leaves to the SMC teachers
The Chief Minister said, "The state government had made record recruitments, promotions and regularization of various categories of teachers and non-teaching employees in the Education Department. He said that more than 10 thousand teachers and five thousand non-teaching employees had been recruited during the last five years. More than 8500 teachers had been promoted and more than 20 thousand teachers had been regularized. Apart from this, the process of recruitment of about seven thousand teachers was under progress."
He said that Himachal Pradesh had made immense progress in the field of education since its formation. The present state government was giving top priority to this sector and a budget provision of Rs 8412 crore had been made for the education sector in the current financial year.
Earlier, the PTA Regular Teachers Association felicitated and honored the Chief Minister. The teachers belonging to Hati community also honored the Chief Minister.
Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said that the State Government had taken various employee-friendly decisions under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. The government had fulfilled the long pending demand of teachers of PTA, Para and PAT category. He said that the Chief Minister had always had a humane and sensitive approach towards the problems of various sections of the society.
Welcoming the Chief Minister, State President of PTA Regular Teachers Association Harish Thakur said that the State Government and especially Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur understood the issues and demands of the PTA teachers and took important decisions to regularize them and secure their future.
Amit Mukhiya, Senior Vice President of PTA Regular Teachers Association presented the vote of thanks.