Urgent Need to Fill Vacant Teaching Positions in Himachal Pradesh Schools
The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has issued a press release emphasizing the urgent need to fill the vacant teaching positions in schools across Himachal Pradesh to strengthen education. For a long time, SFI has been informing the government about the significant number of vacant teaching positions and has been continuously pressuring the government to address this issue. As a result of this pressure, the Himachal Pradesh government recently announced the recruitment of 6,297 pre-primary teachers (NTT) on an outsourced basis in elementary education (pre-nursery). This initiative targets approximately 60,000 students registered in 6,297 pre-primary schools in the state. SFI has always believed that any employment provided by the government should be permanent. Hence, conducting NTT recruitments on an outsourced basis is a disservice to the youth, and SFI does not support these outsourced recruitments. The government should arrange for permanent employment.
SFI believes that the central and state governments aim to shut down institutions like Anganwadi under the guise of the National Education Policy (NEP), depriving children of the benefits that should be provided under such institutions. The main objective of Anganwadi centers is to care for children’s physical, mental, and social development, including providing proper nutrition. The government needs to allocate a budget for these services. However, under the NEP 2020, Anganwadi centers are being replaced with pre-nursery schools, resulting in significant cuts to child development services, which goes against the concept of a welfare state.
Therefore, SFI demands that the state government make NTT recruitments permanent, initiate secure programs for child development, and fill all vacant teaching positions in schools across the state. Additionally, SFI urges the government to stop the privatization and commercialization of education under the NEP and not impose NEP 2020 on students in Himachal Pradesh. Otherwise, SFI will mobilize students in Himachal Pradesh and launch a decisive struggle against the government.
