'Sikhsa mitras': UP to move Supreme Court against HC verdict

A day after High Court declared UP's decision to regularise contractual teachers in primary schools as "illegal", the state government today said it will move Supreme Court against the order and asked the teachers to desist from taking any extreme step in view of reports of suicides in the wake of the verdict.
UP Secondary Education Minister Ram Govind Chaudhary in a statement issued here said that the government would file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the yesterday order.
Chaudhary said that the 'siksha mitra' should not take any step which might harm them or their families.

A 27-year-old contractual teacher has allegedly committed suicide at his home in Kannauj today, with his family members claiming that he was upset over the court's decision.
Some more suicides were also reported from other parts of the state with family members claiming that they took the step after the court verdict.
A special three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrchud, Justice Dilip Gupta and Justice Yashwant Verma, yesterday quashed the amendments brought in the state education department's rules whereby nearly 1.71 lakh contractual teachers, popularly known as "Shiksha Mitras", were being regularised.

The court ruled that the state government's move violated the norms laid down by National Council for Teachers' Education (NCTE) as well as the provisions of the Right to Education Act, 2010, both of which lay down that only those candidates could be appointed against regular vacancies for teachers who had cleared the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET).

The judgment, which affects the careers of nearly 1.72 lakh shiksha mitras', came on a petition filed by Shivam Rajan and several others who had challenged the state government's move to regularize the contractual teachers.
'shiksha mitras' were appointed during the previous BSP rule in the state and had been provided a two-year Basic Training Course (BTC) meant for primary teachers through distance education.
In 2012, the newly-elected Samajwadi Party government initiated the populist measure of regularising the shiksha mitras by bringing in the amendments.
Nearly 59,000 contractual teachers were regularized in the first phase in June, 2014 followed by another 73,000 in the second phase in June this year.