Bihar: Aspirant School Teachers Protest Govt’s Decision to End Domicile Policy in Recruitment

Patna: Hundreds of school teacher job aspirants across Bihar took to the streets and staged a protest in Patna on Saturday. They were demanding implementation of a domicile policy in the recruitment process, which was removed recently.

As the protesters tried to cross police barricades, they were stopped, which led to clashes with the police. The protesters reportedly pelted stones at the police, after which there was a baton-charge to disperse them, said the police.

A few policemen and protesters sustained injuries in the clashes, and the police have reportedly detained three dozen protestors.

This is the first such protest witnessed on the streets of Patna after the state cabinet last Tuesday removed the domicile policy for recruitment of teachers. The proposal for removal of domicile policy was mooted before the state cabinet by the education department.

Soon after the government decision, Siddharth, additional chief secretary (cabinet secretariat), reportedly told media here that there would now be no domicile-based reservations for recruitment of teachers in state-run schools.

"Now government teachers’ recruitment is open to all and any Indian citizen can apply for the job. It is not binding that he or she should be a Bihar domicile", he had told the media.

Most of the protesting teacher aspirants have threatened to intensify their agitation. With placards, banners and national flags in their hands, they took out a protest march in the heart of Patna, leading to traffic disruption on busy roads. The protesters shouted slogans against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and state education minister Chandrasekhar.

"The decision to end domicile policy is wrong. We will continue to protest," Shailendar Singh, one of the protestors said.

Another protestor Narendar Kumar said, “There is no justification to invite teacher aspirants from other states when joblessness rate is highest in Bihar. The government should not open the gates for all Indians".

The protest comes at a time when contractual teachers have been protesting for amending the new recruitment rules for appointment of teachers. They have already announced to "gherao" official residences of MLAs and MLCs on July 11 and 12.

Contractual teachers are against going through another examination and are demanding the government give them the state government employee status without any condition.

Early last month, contractual teachers protesting against new recruitment rules decided not to fill out application forms for appointment as teachers without the status of government employees.

The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) notified the appointment of 1.70 lakh school teachers last month. Now, it has formally invited online applications from teacher aspirants for appointment from June 15 to July 12.

Under the Bihar State School Teachers (appointment, transfer, disciplinary action and service condition) Rules, 2023, teachers are to be appointed under one standardised process and have status equivalent to state government employees with separate district cadres.

However, the government amended new recruitment rules by ending the domicile policy that has triggered protests by teacher job aspirants, who are likely to get support from 3.5 lakh contractual teachers.