Chandigarh: More than 180 Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) teachers, accompanied by family members, staged a protest outside the residence of Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema in Chandigarh on Saturday, alleging serious irregularities and administrative high-handedness in their recruitment case.
The protesting teachers alleged that they have been fighting for justice for nearly a decade and accused officials of failing to resolve an issue that, according to them, resulted from mistakes within the Education Department. The teachers demanded action against a departmental clerk whom they alleged was responsible for irregularities in the recruitment process and had attempted to protect certain individuals.
According to the protesters, they were originally recruited in 2016 but were subsequently dismissed after questions were raised about alleged flaws in the recruitment process. They were later reinstated following a court order. However, the teachers claimed that despite their reinstatement, the underlying administrative issue remained unresolved.
The protesters further claimed that an IAS-level inquiry had subsequently indicated that the problem arose because of an error committed by a departmental clerk and that the 180 teachers themselves were not responsible for the irregularities. They expressed anger that, despite several meetings with government representatives during the past week, no concrete action had been taken.
One of the protesters alleged that the Education and Finance Ministers had said they did not have the authority to suspend the concerned clerk and had promised to facilitate a meeting with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The teachers said they were still waiting for meaningful intervention and accused the government of repeatedly delaying a resolution.
The protesters also alleged that they had previously sought a meeting with the Chief Minister but that the promised meeting had not materialised. They said they had travelled to Chandigarh not to create a confrontation but to seek justice after years of uncertainty over their careers and livelihoods.
The demonstration eventually drew police intervention, with Punjab Police removing the protesters from the vicinity of the Finance Minister’s residence. The development has once again raised questions over the handling of recruitment disputes in Punjab’s Education Department and the government’s response to employees who claim that they have suffered because of administrative errors.
The ETT teachers’ case is particularly significant because it involves individuals who say they entered government service through a recruitment process, were later removed, and then obtained relief through the courts. Their demand is now focused on accountability for those responsible for the alleged administrative lapses rather than punishment of the teachers themselves.
The episode also presents a broader challenge for the Punjab government. Recruitment into government schools is not merely an employment issue; it directly affects the credibility of the state’s education system and the confidence of thousands of young people preparing for government jobs. Any allegation that candidates have suffered because of departmental errors requires a transparent investigation and a time-bound resolution.
The protesting teachers have therefore demanded that the government examine the findings of the inquiry, identify those responsible for the alleged irregularities, and ensure that the affected teachers do not continue to suffer because of mistakes they say were committed by officials.
For the government, the immediate priority should be to address the teachers’ grievances through dialogue, make the relevant inquiry findings public, and establish accountability wherever wrongdoing is proved. Prolonging the dispute risks deepening frustration among the affected teachers and raising wider concerns about transparency and fairness in public recruitment in Punjab.