Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 13: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today announced that increase in the retirement age of faculty members of Universities and Medical Education was under active consideration of the Government to help these institutions maintain standards of teaching and retain highly experienced faculty.
Addressing a conference of Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers conference at University of Jammu this afternoon, Omar said it has been observed that due to disparity in retirement age of the faculty of Centre Universities and other Universities in the State, it has become difficult for the State Universities to retain their qualified and experienced faculty.
“Similar is the case in the Medical Education Department. Therefore, the Government is actively considering enhancement of the age of faculties of State Universities and Medical Education,” the Chief Minister said.
He regretted that propaganda is being created against the Government that it was taking new initiatives after the defeat of coalition candidates in the Parliament elections.
“We are not bothered about this false propaganda as our objective is to benefit the people of all sections of society and we will continue to do this irrespective of all false propaganda. We have taken historic steps in the past and will take such measures in present and future also,” he added.
Meanwhile, announcing the initiative of the coalition Government to give service benefits of first five years of their stipendiary service to the Rehbar-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers and make it transferable, Omar said that this move of the Government would benefit over 55,000 ReTs and creating job opportunities for educated youth.
The Chief Minister made this announcement at the ReT Educational Conference at SKICC here this morning in which Deputy Chief Minister, (Incharge School Education), Tara Chand, and other Ministers were also present.
Omar said the Government has observed that these two demands of ReTs were justified and should be accepted to accrue benefits to them and strengthen the system of education delivery in the rural areas. “This would not only help the ReTs to grow and develop but create a continuous process of creating vacancies of ReTs in the rural, remote and backward areas for the educated youth”, he said and received standing ovation from the hundreds of ReTs participating in the Conference, when he made this announcement.
The Chief Minister made same announcement in Jammu today afternoon at another ReT Conference at Zorawar Singh Auditorium in Jammu University.
Addressing the conferences, the Chief Minister highlighted the role of teachers and said that they are architect of future and in their hands is the destiny of nation. “Teachers fraternity in general and those imparting education at elementary levels are builders and protectors of the future of a nation. You lay the strong foundation for a healthy society and your responsibility and service are stupendous”, he told the teachers.
Omar Abdullah referred the launch of ReT in the tenure of Dr. Farooq Abdullah led Government and said that since then it has served in a best way to ensure good education in the rural and far flung areas. He said ReT scheme was best designed to suit the local requirements. He said the scheme withstood the challenges and proved a success. He expressed the hope that it will get further fillip in the years to come.
Referring to various initiatives taken by the Government for the welfare of Government employees, the Chief Minister said that the Government is actively considering the enhancement of retirement age of the universities faculty and medical education faculty. He said there is also a proposal under active consideration of the Government pertaining to creation of contingency employees in the education sector.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand presented the background of these two demands and said that for being justified, the Chief Minister and the State Cabinet are on the same page to accept these and help in ameliorating the lot of ReT teachers community and help enhance the reach of children in far flung, rural and remote areas to educational facilities being provided by the Government.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that during the last year about 20,000 promotions at various levels have been effected in the School Education Department to remove stagnation and provide better opportunities of growth and development to both teaching and non-teaching staff. He said the process is continuous in this regard.
Tara Chand said about 20,000 vacancies of teachers and ReTs have been identified and referred to recruiting agencies for selection. He said efforts are on to create about one lakh more vacancies in the education sector for the youth of the State.
The Director of Education, Kashmir and the Director of Education, Jammu presented the welcome address at the two venues while the vote of thanks was resented by the Director RMSA.
Meanwhile, J&K ReT Teacher’s Forum has welcomed the announcement of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand to include 5 years ReT period of the teachers for seniority and promotion benefits.
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