New Delhi: Hundreds of teachers from different states of India gathered here on Monday to protest against the Central government demanding certificates for the two-year DELED Course at NIOS which they completed in 2019. However, the protest march scheduled to be held from Boat Club to Parliament House was postponed after the teachers received a call from the education ministry and a representative from Union Education Minister agreed to meet the delegation of teachers to address their issues.
“Today's Parliament Gherao has been postponed to 11 April 2022 only after Satyabrata Padhi, senior PPS to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called for a meeting with the delegation of teachers. Assured of a solution after the UP elections. Otherwise, lakhs of teachers from all over India will gherao Parliament on April 11," said Er. Debashish Hota, National Convener of NIOS DELED Teachers Association.
According to the teachers association, during 2019, these teachers completed a 2-year DELED Course at NIOS, an agency of the Central Education Ministry. For the course, each teacher had to pay more than Rs 1 lakh as fees. The teachers passed the examination but NIOS is yet to award any certificate for the completion of the training course. They were rather handed NC (Not Certified) tags because of which their service is now in trouble. The total number of such teachers is 1.80 lakh across the country.
"When we approached the NIOS, it tried to escape and shifted the blame on NCTE, another agency of Central Education Ministry. NCTE threw the ball in the court of the Central Education Ministry and unfortunately, Ministry blamed the RTE-2009 Act. But, there is no provision for NC tag in the RTE-2009 Act. Then, why have these 1.8 lakh teachers from all over India have been suffering for the last 2 years for no fault of theirs? We have requested PM Modi and Education Minister Pradhan to look into this matter seriously and give directions for removal of their NC tags immediately,” said Debashish Hota.
After not getting any response from the government on their issue, the teachers held nationwide demonstrations at District Collector’s Office on 18 November last year and then organized Dharna at Jantar Mantar of Delhi for 5 days from 29 November 2021. After meeting with the representative of the education ministry, the teachers association has postponed their protest till April but warned of indefinite protest if their issue is not resolved.
