As many as 50 school teachers in Tripura, who lost their jobs due to a court verdict, have died of ‘psychological trauma and anxiety’.
‘Amra 10,323’ (We 10,323) organisation convener Dalia Das said this during a protest in Agartala on Sunday.
Hundreds of teachers, facing termination of jobs due to a court verdict, on Sunday held a sit-in demonstration in Agartala demanding the setting up of alternative arrangements to protect their jobs.
Das said the teachers, both men and women, held a mass demonstration on Sunday here demanding continuation of their jobs by the Tripura government.
“Tripura government should provide a job to the family members of those 50 teachers who had either committed suicide or died of psychological trauma and anxiety,” Das told reporters.
Over 10,323 government teachers with graduate, post-graduate and under-graduate educational qualifications were inducted into Tripura government schools in different phases since 2010.
The recruitment process subsequently went to litigation and the Tripura High Court in 2014 terminated all the 10,323 teachers, saying that the selection criterion contained “discrepancies”.
Thereafter, Special Leave Petitions were filed in the Supreme Court by the then Left Front government and a section of teachers, while the apex court upheld the High Court verdict on March 29, 2017.
Following an appeal by the previous Left Front government, the apex court extended their services up to June last year.
After coming to power in March last year, the BJP-led government had filed a fresh appeal in the Supreme Court In June last year, the Court granted them one-time final extension of their services till March 2020.