Acceding to the long-pending demand of contractual teachers, the Punjab cabinet on Wednesday approved the regularisation of 5,178 teachers with full pay scale from October 2019.
However, protesting teachers expressed displeasure with the government for "going back" on its promise of giving full pay scale from February and not addressing the issues of those involved with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) dubbed it a "ploy" to woo the teaching fraternity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for April-May.
In a cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, it was decided to regularise the services of 5,178 teachers with full pay scale from October 1, 2019.
The cabinet also regularised 650 nurses of the health department as per the department's probation rules, according to an official release here.
Of the 5,178 teachers, 5,078 were recruited in the master's cadre and 100 as classical and vernacular teachers by the education department in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
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The cabinet also reduced the probation period from three years to two years, it said.
Further, the teachers would be assigned seniority from the date of completion of their probation period.
These teachers are currently paid Rs 7,500 per month and their salary would be now fixed at minimum of grade pay, which is Rs 15,300 per month, till the time they are given full scale, the release said.
Reacting to the decision of regularising the jobs of teachers, SAD senior leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia described it as an "election ploy" of the Congress.
"The government does not have money in the budget. They cannot give Dearness Allowance of employees and winter uniform of students. It is a just a ploy to fool the teachers' union so as to try to get them on board for the elections. But teachers are sensible people and they will not fall for this election gimmick of the Congress," said Majithia.
The teachers, protesting under the banner of Adhyapak Sangharsh Committee, said they were upset that the cabinet approved giving full pay scale to 5,178 teachers from October instead of February.
"We were promised that the full pay scale will be given with effect from February this year. But the government is now saying that the full pay scale will be given from October," Bikramjit Singh Kaddon, a member of the committee, said.
The teachers said that during their meeting with four ministers - Education Minister O P Soni, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Health Minister Brahm Mohindra and Cooperation and Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa -- they were assured that the issue of pay protection of 8,886 teachers of Adarsh schools, SSA and RMSA would also be addressed in the cabinet meeting.
"But this issue will now be looked into by a committee, along with other issues," said Kaddon.
The government has formed an eight-member committee of teachers' union leaders and senior officers to look into other demands of the teachers.
"The committee will submit its report to the cabinet sub-committee within three months and thereafter, the cabinet sub-committee will examine it and submit it to the cabinet for final approval," Education Minister Soni told reporters after the cabinet meeting.