Tribal people staging a demonstration at Dharna Chowk in Vijayawada on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI
The future of tribal people will be at stake if the non-tribals are appointed to teachers’ posts on a contract basis in the scheduled areas in Andhra Pradesh, CITU general secretary Umamaheswara Rao has said.
Addressing a gathering of more than 200 tribal people who came from Visakhapatnam, Alluri Sitharama Raju and Parvatipuram-Manyam districts, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said: “It has been three years since the G.O. 3, which gives us a guarantee that 100% of teachers’ posts in the scheduled areas of the State should be reserved for tribals, was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2020. This has impacted the lives of many tribal teachers.” He demanded that 100% reservation system be restored.
“Not many tribal children reach higher education. According to 2011 Census, the national literacy rate stands at 73%, while the same for tribal areas is 59%. A few of us who managed to complete studies and are in a position to teach while other children are jobless,” said Adivasi Matrubhasha Upadhyaya Sangham State secretary S. Domdu.
Members of the Adivasi Girijan Sangham flayed the Jagan Mohan Reddy government for making “false promises” to tribal people. “We were told Alluri Sithama Raju and Parvatipuram-Manyam districts were created for the benefit of tribal people. Who is getting benefited?,” the members asked, adding that when the Integrated Child Development Society released a notification for 22 vacant posts in Alluri Sitharama Raju district, not one of them was reserved for tribals.
They also demanded that the salaries of tribal teachers be increased from ₹5,000 to ₹26,000. “Around 1,400 tribal teachers, who were roped in to impart education to children in their mother tongue in the scheduled areas, are getting a meagre ₹5,000. This is not enough even to run two-wheelers,” the members said.