By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: The agitation over teacher recruitment gathered momentum in the state capital on Monday as candidates from the Class I teachers’ waiting list staged a strong protest demanding appointments. More than 200 aspirants from around 50 districts sat in demonstration for several hours near Link Road No. 2, raising slogans against what they described as an unfair recruitment process.
The protesters said that in 2023, eligibility tests were conducted for around 8,720 Class I teaching posts, but after the selection examination, appointments were issued for only about 2,900 posts. Nearly 5,000 posts were reportedly placed in the backlog, leaving even candidates who scored above the 80 percentile without appointment letters.
Aspirants pointed out that earlier recruitments used to be conducted for 16,000–17,000 Class I posts, whereas the 2023 drive was limited to just 8,720 posts. This, they said, has worsened the shortage of teachers in schools and caused severe mental stress among qualified candidates awaiting jobs.
The protesters demanded an increase of at least 10,000 permanent posts in Class I teacher recruitment and the conversion of backlog posts into general category posts to provide an opportunity to candidates on the waiting list.
“Despite clearing both the eligibility and selection examinations in 2023, we are still without appointment letters because the number of posts is very limited,” said aspirant Sandhya Pandey. Another candidate, Devesh Paliwal, said that since permanent teacher recruitment takes place only once in four to five years, many candidates become ineligible by the time the next examination is held.
