India
oi-Gaurav Sharma
The wait for the fourth phase Bihar Teachers Recruitment Examination (TRE-4) is turning into a protest as students and job aspirants call for the state government to release the notification of the exam within the next 24 hours. Several protesters, including research scholars and job aspirants, staged a protest in Patna on Tuesday over delayed teacher recruitment and assistant professor recruitment, irregularities in competitive exams, and more.
Student leader Dilip Kumar stated that the government should release the Bihar TRE-4 notification for the fourth phase of the recruitment exam within 24 hours. Failure to do so will lead to the protesters gheraoing the residence of the education minister and demanding his resignation.
Job aspirants in Patna protested the delayed Bihar TRE-4 exam notification, demanding its release within 24 hours and a single-tier examination, while citing Jharkhand’s recent resolution on canceled recruitment tests.
The protesters also demanded that the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) TRE-4 exam be held as a single-tier examination. They have called for an inquiry into allegations of corrupt recruitment practices and demanded action against “exam mafias.” Kumar declared his intention to begin a hunger strike if the government does not respond to the protesters’ demands within three days. Another protest participant, Kumud Patel, has already been on a hunger strike for 15 days.
Student leader Kundan Singh informed that a student delegation met Higher Education Minister Sanjay Singh Tiger and Additional Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar. “They did not give us satisfactory replies to our questions,” he added. Singh stated that the state government should learn from the Delhi and Jharkhand student protests before the agitation spreads to Bihar.
“When teachers and students are protesting together, it indicates that something is not right with the state’s educational policy,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Jharkhand, a similar recruitment-related student protest was concluded as three of the six hunger-striking students ended their 25-day long fast. The Jharkhand government announced that it would cancel the recruitment tests conducted by an outsourcing agency since 2014. The remaining protesters from Jharkhand will consider revoking their hunger strike after evaluating the state government’s response.
