Agartala: Dec 12: Several qualified candidates of Selection Test For Graduate Teachers (STGT), who are aspirants for teachers of senior classes, were allegedly beaten up by police in Tripura capital Agartala on Monday.
They were agitating in front of the house of Tripura’s Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath on their lone demand of recruitment of all qualified candidates together.
Several of them including female agitators sustained minor injuries and had to be rushed to IGM hospital for treatment.
Speaking to reporters the injured agitator complained that as they were leaving the spot after meeting the Education Ministry all of a sudden police resorted to lathi charge and in which several of them were injured including a pregnant woman and a kidney patient.
They said that during last few month they have been meeting various Ministers including the Deputy Chief Minister and Finance, Youth Affairs and Sports and the Education Minister on their demand but till now they did not receive any response from the government.
The agitators viewed as per RTI reply which they have procured from the Education Department, there are 5304 STGT vacant posts while the total number of qualified STGT candidates are less than 2000.
They also added the Education Minister informed them despite his willingness due to non approval from the Finance Department his department is unable to fill up these posts. However, on the contrary the Finance Minister informed them that there is no lack of fund.
The agitators also said that many of them are from very poor families and completed their education including BEd qualifications after selling their properties or taking educational loans and are now under pressure.
Later political leaders from various opposition parties including the CPIM, Congress and Trinamool Congress had met the injured agitators in the hospital and criticized the role of the government and the police.
