Tripura Teachers Protest: the biggest protest in Tripura’s history

Courtesy: TripuraIndia.com

In March 2020, the Government of Tripura had terminated 10,323 teachers who were appointed during the rule of the CPIM tenure. The Government claimed that the recruitment process was faulty, as most of the teachers didn't have proper qualification. Therefore, the Supreme Court had termed the recruitment process as ‘unconstitutional’.  

The 10,323 school teachers who had lost their jobs were inducted in different phases till 2010. When the matter went to court in 2014. The court ordered them to terminate them all. But the order was upheld by the Supreme Court gave a verdict in March, where the teachers were asked to retire on December 31, 2017. After which they were posted on an ad hoc basis.   

After a long battle since 2014, their hopes came crashing down when on 31 March 2020 the Supreme Court pronounced the termination of the 10,323 teachers. However, the BJP government offered them non-teaching substitute jobs, which was declined by them. They were asked to reappear for the recruitment examination and special benefits were promised to them.   

However, most of the teachers rejected this offer. In November 2020 over 10,000 teachers started a road protest. They launched in sit-in demonstration protest seeking a permanent solution from the Government. The protest lasted for over 3 months which was allegedly said to be funded by the CPIM leaders.   

On 27th January, 2021, when they refused on being asked to clear out space, the teachers were beaten and attacked by the CRPF with tear gas and water cannons leaving more than a hundred people injured and several hundred others were then arrested.   

The Apex Court interpreted Article 21 of the Constitution of India in a very wide manner and held that the Right to Life includes the Right to have Quality Education. This justifies the termination of these 10,323 teachers.   

However, the question remains who's responsible for the suffering and misery of these teachers and their families? Between the battle and the change in Governments, it's always the citizens of this country who suffer and their pleas continue to fall on deaf ears.

Author:

Swagata Chakraborty