By Amir Tantray
Jammu: The promise of regularisation made to the Community Information Centre (CIC) operators and the Vocational Trainers (VTs) by the successive governments remains unfulfilled bringing the aspirants into a state of distress.
As the VTs have been performing their duties since 2016, CIC operators have been there for 22 years now.
Around 2500 VTs are working in different higher secondary and high schools of the Jammu and Kashmir school education department who are imparting training to the students from class 9th to 12th in various subjects, including information technology, tourism, healthcare, retail, food sciences, beauty and wellness, and much more.
These VTs in Jammu and Kashmir are getting only a Rs 20,000 honorarium every month, whereas their counterparts in other states like Haryana are getting Rs 40,000 and other benefits.
“There is no laxity on our part, and we work with as much dedication as other teachers in the same schools. Our performance is much better than all subjects, as we have given 95 per cent performance in results, and enrolment in every school is above 100 students,” Ghulam Jeelani Lone, president of J&K Vocational Trainers’ Welfare Association (JKVTWA), told ETV Bharat.
The major demands of VTs are job regularisation, fair wages, incremental benefits, equal treatment alongside other government-employed educators, removal of vocational trainer partners, who have been outsourced, and formation of service bylaws to define clear job roles.
“The government has recognised our work, and even the J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had mentioned in episode 4 of Awaam Ki Awaaz that the concerned department will be given the direction to form a policy regarding VTs,” Lone said, adding that so far nothing has been done.
He claimed that during their meeting with J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, the latter had directed the minister for education, Sakeena Ittoo, to look into the matter. “The minister had forwarded the file to the director of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan for the necessary action, but it has failed to move beyond that,” he added.
Some incumbent legislators and many socio-political activists have come in support, including Congress MLA Bandipora Nizamuddin Bhat, AAP MLA from Doda Mehraj Malik, and MLA Kupwara Mir Muhammad Fayaz of PDP.
Now, the association has threatened to hold a protest demonstration on February 3 if action is not taken. “On February 3, after the protest demonstration, we are planning to hold a foot march from Srinagar to Jammu in support of our demands,” Lone added.
“These VTs have been appointed through vocational training partners, and whenever we get the bills from the employer, we reimburse the same. These VTs were appointed through VTPs as per a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the VTPs and the government,” Rakesh Magotra, Director Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan J&K, told ETV Bharat.
“We have received some representation regarding their issue, and we are already in the process of giving the reply,” he added.
At the same time, CIC operators were appointed in 2003 in every block development office of the rural development department of the Jammu and Kashmir government to impart training to youth on IT and other schemes of the government. They faced several ups and downs, and successive governments made promises to absorb them as permanent employees, but even after getting a clearance from the empowered committee of the cabinet in 2014, they continue to hang in the balance.
“There are only 172 CIC operators all over Jammu and Kashmir, and it was not a big deal for the government to absorb them in the permanent government services. For the last 22 years, we have been serving the government, and even the Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers appointed by the then Mufti Muhammad Sayeed-led PDP-Congress government have been absorbed as permanent teachers, and many have been promoted as masters as well, but there is no policy for us,” claimed Yasir Mintoo, a CIC operator from Doda district.
He said that their file is pending in the general administrative department and waiting for approval from the government.
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