Candidates for teacher posts have been protesting in Bhopal for 20 days, demanding an increase in the number of positions in recruitment exams and the filling of vacant posts, and said they will intensify the agitation if the government does not meet their demands.
The candidates, from various districts in Madhya Pradesh, have been staging the protest at Neelam Park opposite Lower Lake in Jahangirabad. Their main demand is an increase in secondary and primary teacher posts.
A government official, however, said the number of positions could not be increased after the results were declared, adding that the candidates' demands were not in line with the rules.
The candidates said that while the agitation has been ongoing for 20 days, no government official, minister, or representative has come to speak with them.
Talking to PTI, protestor Shailendra Rawat alleged that thousands of teacher positions were vacant in MP's government schools, yet relatively few positions were released in the 2025 recruitment exam.
The government advertised 13,089 primary teacher positions last year, and after the first counselling, only 6,800 positions were filled, he claimed. The government should fill the many vacant positions through a second counselling process, he added.
Many candidates are close to crossing the required age limit for teacher recruitment and will not be eligible to appear in the next exams, Rawat noted.
According to officials, the maximum age limit for teacher recruitment exams is 35 years.
Rawat said the protesters want the government to increase the number of primary teacher positions from 13,089 to 25,000. Similarly, at least 3,000 additional positions should be approved for secondary teachers in all subjects, including sports, music, dance, singing, and instrumental music.
This would address the teacher shortage in schools and provide employment to eligible candidates, he added.
Most of the protesting candidates serve as guest teachers in government schools, who receive honorariums of Rs 18,000 (for higher secondary classes), Rs 14,000 (secondary), and Rs 10,000 (primary classes).
Accusing the government of continued neglect, candidate Mohan Tiwari from Sagar said if a positive decision is not taken soon, their agitation will intensify.
Pradeep Prem Sahu, a guest teacher from Mungawali in Ashoknagar, said he is 30 years old and is unmarried as he does not have a permanent job.
"If I get a job, I'll get married," he told PTI.
Nagendra Singh of Katni said he applied for a mathematics teacher position in the 2025 primary teacher recruitment. When the results came out, his name was third on a list of six waiting candidates.
If the number of positions were increased, he could have easily got a job, Singh added.
Similar is the case with Laxman Singh Lodhi, a 31-year-old Sanskrit guest teacher.
Lodhi said that in the 2025 recruitment, there were only seven positions for Sanskrit teachers (primary) in the state, and he was left on the waiting list for two.
In the early days of the movement, some candidates even resorted to hunger strikes, but the government hospitalised them due to their deteriorating health.
An education department official subsequently said the number of positions could not be increased after the results were declared and that the candidates' demands were not in accordance with the rules.
The candidates, however, claimed that the government increased the number of posts even after the results were declared in 2020 and 2022.
As many as 8,720 posts were announced for the Higher Secondary Teacher Recruitment Examination 2023, and 2,901 posts were filled in the first counselling session, while it has not yet been conducted for 5,819 posts, they added.
As of December 27, 2024, there were 99,197 secondary teacher and 131,152 primary teacher positions vacant under the School Education Department, and 43,734 secondary teacher and 54,625 primary teacher posts vacant in the Tribal Affairs Department, the candidates claimed.
Despite the vacancies, the current recruitment process is underway for only 10,800 secondary teacher and 13,089 primary teacher positions, they added.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari and former chief minister Digvijaya Singh recently met the candidates and supported their demands.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
