NC is committed to address all genuine demands: Nasir
Srinagar: National Conference has lauded the role played by NC Working President and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in meeting the genuine demands of 55,000 Rehbar-e-Taleem Teachers in J&K.
According to a statement issued to KNS, National Conference Provincial President for Kashmir, Nasir Aslam Wani said that in a decision which would benefit over 55,000 Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s announcement of granting service benefits and a regularized transfer policy for Rehbar-e-Taleem Teachers was a landmark decision by Omar Abdullah based on the principle of justice.
Nasir Aslam Wani said that the ReT scheme, under which qualified people of an area were appointed as teachers in their respective areas, was started by the previous National Conference (NC) government in 2000 with an intention to lower the rate of unemployment and improve the literacy rate in the state.
Nasir said that the decision taken by Omar Abdullah in addressing the genuine demands of the Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers would go a long way in improving the education scenario in the State. Nasir said the State had already made huge strides in the education sector during the past five and a half years of the Omar Abdullah government, including the fact that there has been an unprecedented growth in literacy rate in J&K.
Stating that earlier a Rehbar-e-Taleem teacher under this scheme was paid a fixed stipend of Rs 1,500 per month for the first five years of his service after which the services were regularized. However, the five years of service were not included in their service records and there was no transfer policy for them. This, Nasir said was perceived as an injustice with these teachers and the lack of a transfer policy also resulted in harsh difficulties for these teachers. Based on the acceptance of their demands, the Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers will now be able to count their five years from date of recruitment for regularization and would also be eligible for transfers under the new transfer policy.
The NC Provincial President also welcomed the Chief Minister’s announcement that the Government would enhance the retirement age of university teachers, so that state educational institutions can retain talented and highly experienced faculty members and maintain high standards of teaching. Nasir said that due a disparity in the retirement age of the faculty of Central and State Universities, it was being noticed that the State Universities were losing a lot of experienced and talented faculty to the Central Institutes. This, Nasir said, would be stemmed now. Nasir also welcomed the decision of the Omar Abdullah government to enhance the retirement age of the faculty in the Medical Education Department to help in enhancing the quality of medical education, healthcare and health research in the State.