On Saturday, July 1, the Bihar Police lathi-charged some of the Central Teachers’ Eligibility Test (CTET) candidates as they were protesting against the state government in Patna over the recruitment process. The Bihar police acted against the protesters saying that the protesters were taking to the roads causing traffic jams, stopping school students, and causing damage to the property.
Earlier on Tuesday, after a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the state government announced that eligible candidates from all states can apply for teaching jobs in the state’s government-run schools.
Before implementing this, there was a rule which mandated that applicants with the domicile of Bihar could only apply for teaching jobs in the state’s government-run schools
DSP Kotwali, Law and Order, Nurul Haque commented on the issue and said to the news agency, “A case will be registered against the protesters. They are taking to the roads causing traffic jams, stopping school students, and causing damage to the property. They will have to go to jail for this. The police are removing them using lathis to control them.”
The enraged DSP also said that the police were forced to use lathi-charge as the protesting students created a ruckus and blocked the traffic in the capital city of the state. “We will lathi charge again if they become uncontrollable,” he could be heard saying in the video statement.
The Central Teacher Eligibility Test, abbreviated to CTET, is a nationwide exam held in India by the Central Board of Secondary Education to ascertain a candidate’s suitability for employment as a teacher.
Earlier the CTET aspirants and State Teacher Eligibility Test (STET) aspirants had launched a protest in March this year urging the government to immediately release the notification for their recruitment under the seventh phase. The protesters had raised slogans against the government and had warned the system to face dire consequences in the forthcoming elections.
Further, in the year 2022, the Patna police had lathicharged and deployed water cannons on hundreds of aspiring teachers protesting against a delay in their recruitment. Several Bihar Teacher Eligibility Test (BTET) and Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) candidates were reported injured and detained during the protest.
(With inputs from ANI)