Issue teachers exam notification in 24 hours, Bihar job aspirants tell government

Teaching job aspirants protesting in Patna on Tuesday gave the Bihar government 24 hours to issue the notification for the fourth phase of the Teachers Recruitment Examination (TRE-4), warning that they could surround the state education minister’s residence and demand his resignation if it failed to act.

The protesters, gathered in the Gardanibagh area, also sought a single-stage examination for BPSC TRE-4, transparency in Bihar Staff Selection Commission recruitments, action against examination rackets and penalties for candidates allegedly appointed through corrupt practices.

“The government should release the notification for the BPSC TRE-4 examination within 24 hours. Otherwise, we may gherao the Bihar education minister’s residence and seek his resignation,” student leader Dilip Kumar said.

Kumar also warned that he would begin a hunger strike if the government did not address the demand within three days.

Research scholars, PhD holders and guest faculty members from several Bihar universities have been holding a parallel protest at a nearby camp in Gardanibagh for the past 15 days. They are opposing revised rules governing assistant professor recruitment and have demanded the resignations of Higher Education Minister Sanjay Singh Tiger and Additional Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar.

Kumud Patel, who has been on hunger strike throughout the agitation, said the campaign was aimed at protecting Bihar’s education system. He claimed that two rounds of discussions with the minister and additional chief secretary had failed to produce a resolution.

Patel said the protesters had submitted representations to the Governor and Chief Minister three days earlier and were assured that action would follow soon but had received no further communication.

The protesting academics have presented a six-point charter of demands, including the application of Table 3A of the University Grants Commission Regulations, 2018, to assistant professor appointments. They have also sought an increase in the upper age limit for applicants to 55 years, regularisation of assistant professor appointments and the introduction of a domicile policy.

Vibha Rani, an assistant guest professor at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur, was among the delegates who met the additional chief secretary. She accused the government of adopting a rigid approach and ignoring what she described as legitimate demands.

“We presented our six-point charter of demands with a positive rationale, but they showed no willingness to accept them,” she said, adding that the administration must recognise the protesters’ democratic right to be heard.

Assistant professor Kundan Singh said the authorities had failed to answer the protesters’ questions during their discussions. He urged the Bihar government to learn from recent student agitations in Delhi and Jharkhand before the demonstration expanded further.

“When teachers and students are both on the streets, it is clear that something is going wrong in Bihar’s education policy,” Singh said, calling for meaningful dialogue with the government.

The demonstrations in Gardanibagh come amid wider unrest among Bihar’s students, teachers and job aspirants over recruitment delays, examination procedures and the state’s education policies.

With PTI inputs