Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Guest teachers in Madhya Pradesh have been protesting for years, demanding regularization of their jobs, but their pleas have largely been ignored by the government. On Wednesday, school education minister Uday Pratap Singh made a controversial remark that further highlighted the government’s lack of seriousness on the issue.

The guest teacher system in Madhya Pradesh began in 2008. Since 2008, the pay for guest teachers had been very low, with different categories earning Rs 2,500, Rs 3,500, and Rs 4,500 until 2017. In 2018, their honorarium was increased to Rs 5,000, Rs 7,000, and Rs 9,000, respectively.

In 2023, the pay was doubled to Rs 10,000, Rs 14,000, and Rs 18,000. However, despite these increases, the demand for job regularisation remains unmet. Promises made to guest teachers have been repeatedly broken. In 2014, the then education minister, Paras Jain, assured guest teachers that their future would be secured, but after a change in government, this promise was left unfulfilled.

In 2018, the Congress party had assured guest teachers that they would address the issue within three months of coming to power. However, after the formation of the government, then chief minister Kamal Nath took no action, leading to a prolonged protest by guest teachers from December 2019 to March 2020 at Bhopal’s Shahjahani Park. During this protest, Jyotiraditya Scindia met the demonstrators and assured them that their demands would be met. However, following another change in government, their demands were ignored once again.

On September 2, 2023, the then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made several promises during a guest teacher panchayat, but none of these have been fulfilled to date. Most recently, on September 10, 2024, guest teachers protested again, and while the education minister agreed to eight key demands, the issue of regularization remains unresolved.

What next

Sunil Singh Parihar, President of the Guest Teachers Association, told the Free Press that a delegation is scheduled to meet BJP State president VD Sharma on Friday. After this meeting, they plan to organise a large-scale protest in front of the school education minister’s residence. In every district, guest teachers have also submitted letters to BJP district presidents, and a letter was handed over to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Gwalior regarding the education minister’s remarks.  

Protesters don black armbands

In response to the education minister’s controversial statement, from Thursday the guest teachers across the state, under the banner of the Guest Teachers Coordination Committee, have started protesting by wearing black armbands while continuing their duties in schools. The teachers will continue this till the minister seeks an apology.