Govt. urged to resolve long-pending issues of panchayat raj teachers

Panchayat raj teachers have been pushed into an uncertain situation and are facing despair, demotivation and severe mental agony, members of Navyandhra Teachers’ Association said, requesting Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan to focus on resolving these long-standing issues. In a letter addressed to Mr. Pawan Kalyan on Wednesday, association State president Karanam Harikrishna and State general secretary Maganti Srinivasa Rao said the panchayat raj teachers had been neglected for 25 years. “While the government assured integration of panchayat raj teachers into its administrative fold, only 4,000 government teachers and 400 non-teaching staff are currently being utilised. Even though a new post, MEO-II, was introduced for zilla parishad teachers, the administrative powers had been handed over to government MEOs, creating widespread dissatisfaction, they said, adding that this unfair treatment was causing significant distress among panchayat raj teachers, especially when compared to other States where non-teaching staff are deemed ineligible for district-level educational posts. This had led to a situation where Zilla Parishad teachers were deemed ineligible for promotions, further demoralising them, the members said The members proposed eleven measures to address their concerns, including upgradation of schools to zilla parishad junior colleges, inclusion of a lecturer in library sciences post for improved teaching and learning in zilla parishad junior colleges, promote panchayat raj teachers as junior lecturers in these colleges, among others.