Minister's intervention puts end to 8-Day indefinite hunger strike by Wayanad mentor teachers
Wayanad mentor teachers ended their hunger strike after the government agreed to give weightage to existing staff in new recruitment and consider older candidates for other roles.
Wayanad mentor teachers ended their hunger strike after the government agreed to give weightage to existing staff in new recruitment and consider older candidates for other roles.
Wayanad mentor teachers ended their hunger strike after the government agreed to give weightage to existing staff in new recruitment and consider older candidates for other roles.
Kalpetta: The indefinite hunger strike of mentor teachers, which had continued for eight days in front of the Wayanad Collectorate, was called off on Friday following a consensus reached during talks between the Minister for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, K A Thulasi, and leaders of the Mentor Teachers' Action Council in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, the Action Council said in a press statement.
The new UDF government has invited applications for the fresh appointment of 326 mentor teachers in various tribal-dominated regions across the state, including 241 posts in Wayanad, effectively bringing to an end the nine-year service of mentor teachers appointed by the previous LDF government in 2017, triggering the agitation. The new recruitment gives priority to candidates from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
The Mentor Teacher Scheme, launched by the LDF government in 2017 under the Gothra Bandhu Project, appointed teachers on 10-month contracts with a daily remuneration of ₹750 to bridge the linguistic and cultural gap between tribal children and the mainstream education system.
The minister invited leaders of the Action Council for discussions after the CPM's tribal wing, the Adivasi Kshema Samithi (AKS), along with several class and mass organisations, extended support to the hunger strike and launched protests in solidarity with the agitating teachers.
According to the decisions taken during the meeting, additional weightage will be given to existing mentor teachers who lost their jobs during the new recruitment process. For posts earmarked for vulnerable tribal communities such as the Paniya, Kattunaikka and Adiya, if eligible candidates with TTC/D Ed or B Ed qualifications are unavailable, candidates from other tribal communities will be considered before applicants from the same community with lower qualifications.
The government also agreed to consider candidates from the Thachanadan Mooppan, Karimbalan, and Kadar tribal communities, who had earlier been excluded under the recruitment notification. Mentor teachers who have crossed the upper age limit of 45 years prescribed for the new appointments will be considered for suitable positions in other projects under the Scheduled Tribe Development Department.
The Mentor Teachers' Action Council stated that the government was compelled to hold talks with the agitating teachers after CPM MLA P A Muhammed Riyas raised the issue in the State Assembly, and the protest intensified across the district.