Announcing the initiative of the Coalition Government to give service benefits of first five years of their stipendiary service to the Rehber-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers and make it transferable, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah amid thunderous applaud and pro-government slogans by hundreds of ReTs, Friday 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, Minister for Hajj and Auqaf, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Higher Education, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Minister for CAPD, Ch. Mohammad Ramzan, Minister for Tourism, G. A. Mir and Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Nazir Ahmed Gurezi were present besides various senior officers of Education Department.
Omar Abdullah said that the Government 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 in which Deputy Chief Minister, Tara Chand, Ministers, Sham Lal Sharma, Raman Bhalla, G. A. Mir, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma and Legislator, Devender Singh Rana were also present.
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 and expressed the hope that they would redouble their efforts in moulding the young children into the best mould making them capable and qualified human resource to lead the Nation towards new highs of prosperity and development.
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.Tara Chand also mentioned the role of ReTs in making Government schools in rural and remote areas functional and said that the service and transfer benefit to them will not only upgrade their conditions but help in a big way to universalize the education in the State particularly at the elementary level.
The Deputy Chief Minister while mentioning the benefits of the historic initiative of the Coalition Government led by Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah to benefit more than 55,000 ReTs in the State and strengthen the edifice of elementary education said that various measures taken by the Education Department to streamline its functioning and ensuring the quality education have yielded positive results. He said that outcome of these measures is visible in the results obtained by government schools in the matric, 10+2 and other standards showing quantum jump in 2013 as against previous years.
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 Deputy Chief Minister also highlighted the role of teachers in building a healthy society and impressed upon the ReTs to render best service to the State by imparting quality education to the students.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. Thousand of ReTs at Srinagar and Jammu expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister and the Coalition Government for this historic initiative. They raised slogans in favour of the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and the Coalition Government.