Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said he has asked Secondary Education Minister Gulab Devi to write to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), so that an arrangement can be made after a certain period and protesting students can appear in competitive examinations.
Speaking at an appointment-letter-distribution programme organised by the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission here, Adityanath said, “Every person makes certain contributions to the society, but a teacher’s role is different from that of others. An administrative officer can discharge his administrative responsibilities, but he cannot become a good teacher. A police officer can create a sense of security in people’s mind through his work, but even he has to learn to become a teacher.
“I have told the secondary education minister that a letter should be written to the NCTE. Some youngsters are protesting in Prayagraj. For once, those children should be given a break or an arrangement should be made so that after a certain period, they can appear in competitive examinations. A system should be created. A system suffering from stagnation works to break the morale of youngsters.”
According to the protesters, UPTET has been made compulsory—a condition the government announced only after the UPTET application forms had already been released. This will exclude many candidates and bar them from the recruitment process altogether.
Assigning a task to the newly appointed teachers, Yogi said that if a single teacher interacts with 100 students annually, 3,567 teachers will engage with and guide more than 350,000 children in a year.
“This is not merely a programme for distributing appointment letters. It is about entrusting 3,567 people with the responsibility of contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve for a self-reliant and developed India,” the CM said.
Yogi said 9.5 lakh youths have been provided government jobs over the past nine years. Another 100,000 youths are set to receive government jobs within the next six months, he added.
Taking a dig at the SP without naming it, he said, “I have also told the Saifai syndicate that we are giving jobs and will continue to give them. You keep counting,” Yogi also said in a lighter vein, that if they could not count, they could “sit with Shivpal ji”, referring to senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav, who, he said, could teach them counting.
Yogi said former DGP Prashant Kumar was made UPESSC chairman so that he could crack down on the copying mafia. With his experience in UP Police, he will ensure that Saifai-like syndicate mafia do not engage in foul practice and improve the sanctity of the commission—the examination conducting bodies for various competitions. He thanked the UPESSC chairman and his team for completing the recruitment process in a time-bound and fair manner.
Criticising the previous government, the CM said the ‘Saifai Syndicate’ no longer dares to rob talented students of their interests. That is why high-performing officers from the UP Police have been assigned the responsibility of revamping the functioning of these commissions and boards.
Yogi said that prior to 2017, even those who were not applicants were given appointment letters. “This was the height of dishonesty and corruption. In the past, the youth were often deprived of their rights. However, now if anyone demands a bribe from a principal, headmaster, lecturer, or teacher after the appointment letter has been issued, they will have to rot in jail,” he said.
