news details |
|
|
| Unemployed youth feel betrayed as authorities engage teachers as enumerators | | |
MISHU GUPTA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 18: Unemployed educated youth in Jammu and Kashmir who have been awaiting for some odd assignments once again felt betrayed as the state government instead of engaging them for Census 2010 has taken the services of teachers and other government officials.
The contention behind this feeling of betrayal is that government are already are being paid salaries and will be paid extra for this out of job duty.
'The Census Department should have engaged the unemployed educated youth in this exercise so that they would get at least a month's honorarium while the teachers and employees of other departments could be used at their routine services," a group of unemployed youth resenting the initiative told this reporter.
According to reports, many peripheral and remote schools in Jammu division have 'virtually been observing unofficial holidays' as the teachers already in restricted numbers are busy with the Census training and refresher courses.
"Many unemployed youth possess Bachelors and Masters Degrees in geography or other concerned subjects are left high and dry as their hopes of getting at least 30 days employment shattered down when concerned authorities preferred to engaged already serving persons, said Rakesh Sharma an idle graduate who further asked, "I wonder why they preferred teachers and government employees instead of unemployed as enumerators or supervisors.While engaging teachers would result into the academics in the educational institutions to suffer he added.
Pertinent to mention here is that the Census Department is engaging 37,000 government employees as enumerators and supervisors for Census 2010 and these human resources are being paid Rs 8000 to Rs 10000 from 15 May to 30 June during which each enumerator will have to list 160 houses.
"Why can't authorities pick the qualified youth among the 4.5 lakh unemployed and give them proper training to conduct the Census, said Pankaj Bhardwaj a university pass out. 'I don't think the government has any reason to fear any problems in holding the Census once the training capsule is completed," he lamented.
***The Census authorities, however, argue that engaging the unemployed youth is no option. "We just can't do that because the enumerators or supervisors have to be the government employees. That is a mandatory requirement," said Director, Census, Farooq Ahmad Faktoo.
He refutes that the Census will have any effect on the functioning of government departments or schools. "It is a part-time job that we are assigning to them. On an average, an enumerator will have to list three houses per day. And I don't think that is a big deal. And then we have been insisting that they can go to their departments and do the job before or after the working hours," Faktoo said. "We have also been insisting that the Education Department can engage Rehbar-e-Taleems in Census as we are paying the enumerators a good honorarium. But in any case we can not engage anyone other than government servants," he observed.
On the other hand, teachers in remote areas are facing uphill task to carry out their new assignment as a government teacher, Varinder Singh (name changed) of Sunderbani village in wakes up early in the morning as part of routine at 5:30 am to board a bus by 7.00 am for travelling a stretch of 20 km to reach his school at Kalakote by 8.00 pm. After finishing with classes, he is drained out by 2.00 pm and is supposed to leave for the day.
This is not one isolated case there are many like this and thus the entire exercise would change the daily "to-do" list of approximately 11,000 government teachers of the Jammu province as hectic schedule can stretch up to the point of summer vacations, likely to be declared by June 10. Those serving in the treacherous hilly areas of Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Doda, Kathua and Ramban have been finding the additional task very hard.
One of the senior officials in the Education Department said, "The exact number of the teachers engaged in this exercise is not known to me, as the Directorate of Census has engaged the teachers by consulting the zonal education officers at their own. Their grievance is genuine, but they are getting handsome incentives. Conducting the Census is a service to the nation, so they should not crib."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
