SUBHASH MISHRA
Ranchi, Aug 28: The Jharkhand government has agreed to increase the honorarium for all categories of assistant teachers (para teachers) by ₹1,000.
This decision was announced by the Minister of School Education and Literacy, Baidyanath Ram, during a meeting with the Jharkhand Assistant Teachers Action Committee at the Jharkhand Education Project Council Building.
Department secretary Umashankar Singh, Giridih Sadar MLA Sudivya Kumar Sonu, Khijri MLA Rajesh Kachhap, Barkatta MLA Amit Yadav, Project director Aditya Ranjan, administrative officer Sachidanand Tigga and Mamta Lakra attended the meeting from the government side.
Additional financial adjustments
In addition to the honorarium increase, the government will now deduct ₹1,800 in Employee Provident Fund (EPF) contributions, with the government contributing ₹1,950. This will bring the total contribution to ₹2,950.
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The assistant teachers had been advocating for equal pay for equal work, but the government did not agree to this demand. Instead, an enhancement of ₹1,000 in the honorarium was settled upon.
At present assistant teachers get Rs 12,500 to Rs 22,500 per month.
Amendments, reservations and considerations
Teachers representative Siddique Sheikh said that during the meeting, it was also agreed that amendments would be made to the Assistant Teachers Service Condition Manual 2021 to align benefits with the Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) and Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET).
Furthermore, the government has promised 30% reservation for the dependents of para teachers at the contractual level.
Additionally, the government agreed to remove the requirement for early service confirmation and the 4% annual increment for urban area teachers.
These changes will be presented in the next cabinet meeting.
The government also assured consideration of implementing medical facilities, accident insurance, and a welfare fund for assistant teachers.
Teachers’ representatives present at the meeting included Binod Bihari Mahto, Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Rishikesh Pathak, Siddique Sheikh, and others.
