Jammu: A group of contractual lecturers of schools in Jammu and Kashmir have been holding protests for almost a year, for demands including the regularisation of their services.
The protestors claim over 1,500 people have been affected by it but the administration says there are only a "handful of them". The government says the people who could not clear the Public Service Commission and the Service Selection Board (SSB) examinations wants the government to give them permanent jobs which is not possible.
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"We were engaged on contractual basis and helped government to ensure smooth functioning of schools in militancy-hit far-flung areas but two decades down the line we were left with no choice but to sit on a symbolic hunger strike here to seek justice," Zubair Hussain, vice president of All J-K Contractual Lecturers (10+2) Forum, said.
The organisation was formed by hundreds of lecturers appointed in 1998 on academic arrangement basis to serve in the government-run higher secondary schools in the state.
Arun Bakshi, president of the forum, says former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's policy in 2003 which he said enhanced the monthly salary of the contractual employees from 3,500 to 7,000 and "assured regularisation of the services within next three years".
He said their main demand is to be brought under civil services (special provisions) Act 2010, their services be regularised and those who were ousted be reinstated.
