Employees of Gujarat’s grant-in-aid schools have threatened a statewide agitation from November 25 if the state government does not address their pending demands, including the cancellation of recent appointments to a recruitment selection committee for non-government aided secondary and higher secondary schools.
The committee representing the employees raised its objections in a letter to the chief minister. It opposed the appointment of three members to the committee by the state education department through an order issued on October 23.
According to the committee, the appointments included a representative of a school management association and favoured individuals who had opted for voluntary retirement. It alleged that the composition gave preference to a particular organisation while excluding other recognised organisations with a significantly larger membership base.
The committee described the decision as unfair and said it had created resentment and surprise across the education sector. It has demanded that the appointments be cancelled immediately.
The recruitment committee is responsible for selecting academic staff for non-government aided secondary and higher secondary schools. Grant-in-aid schools are privately managed institutions that receive government financial support, making recruitment arrangements and administrative decisions a matter involving school managements, employees and the state education department.
The committee also said that longstanding demands raised by school managements, principals, teachers and administrative staff in aided schools had not seen satisfactory progress. It claimed that assurances and directions issued during earlier cabinet-level discussions had not translated into concrete action, despite the new council of ministers completing a year in office.
The proposed agitation would begin on November 25, which the committee identified as the start of the new academic session. It warned that statewide protest programmes would be launched from that date unless the government took steps to resolve the pending issues.
The committee said it would pursue a Gandhian-style protest if its demands were not addressed. The reported dispute therefore extends beyond the composition of a recruitment body to wider concerns raised by employees and school managements over the implementation of earlier government assurances.
The committee’s letter calls for the immediate cancellation of the appointments and action on the pending demands before the proposed November 25 protest programme begins.
