Job aspirants from OBC and SC community protesting in Lucknow on Saturday
For over 500 days, the dosshouse of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has been home to a few hundred people conducting a relay protest. These people are not homeless. They are looking for jobs because despite being qualified to teach in government schools, they do not have work.
Roughly 200 metres away is the Kanshi Ram Eco Garden, that is their chosen protest site. Here, 25 to 50 job seekers, most of whom hold B.Ed degrees or Basic Training Certificates (BTC), show up each day, their schedule divided, so there is always a group present.
They are among 6,800 OBC and SC job aspirants demanding appointment under the Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination (ATRE)-2019. They allege irregularity and illegalities in the recruitment process.
Final resting place
Among them is Vijay Pratap, 34, who has spent more than 400 days protesting since March 2022. “I go to my village, Janupur, when there’s an emergency or for family functions. It hurts me to face people. Everyone expects a person of my age to have a job. The dosshouse is our resting place. I will leave only after getting an appointment letter,” he said.
The recruitment of 69,000 teachers announced in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary polls has remained a contentious issue, with OBC and SC candidates protesting outside the Vidhan Sabha during the recently concluded winter session. They also led marches to the offices of all major political parties. “In January 2022 our list of 6,800 candidates was released and we were promised joining letters. Our demand for joining must be met,” said Rita Shekhar, another candidate.
Discrepancies
Demonstrations began when recruitment results were announced in June 2020. Candidates questioned the discrepancies in reservation criteria. “The reserved category candidates who were entitled to selection in the unreserved category due to higher merit were also included in reserved categories, while most unreserved seats went to general category candidates. The National Commission for Backward Classes also validated discrepancies in the reservation criteria adopted and asked the U.P. government to redress grievances,” said Mr. Pratap.
Some candidates went to the High Court, questioning the additional list released in January 2022. The court cancelled the list in March 2023, directing the Basic Education department to prepare a revised list of all seats while disposing of as many as 117 writ petitions, all related to discrepancies in the merit list and examination pattern.
“There was no clarity on the score and details of the reserved category candidates, who appeared in the ATRE 2019,” the High Court observed. It added, “There has been no endeavour from the State authorities, who are custodians of the records of the ATRE 2019 and would have assisted this court in providing the said records.” Some petitioners challenged the single bench judgement, in the double bench of the Court, leading to further delay in the revised list.
“The matter is in the High Court, we are waiting for the judgement of the court,” said Sandeep Singh, Minister Basic Education department, U.P. The State government, on the floor of the U.P. legislative council, agreed that some discrepancies had occurred in the recruitment process.