Student protesters demanding a single test for teacher recruitment in Bihar clashed with police on Tuesday after breaking through barricades while marching towards the governor and chief minister Samrat Choudhary’s residences in Patna.
Choudhary, who launched the programme at the Government Engineering College in Vaishali , asked officials to address the issues promptly. The protests in Patna are the latest in a series of such agitations. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests in Delhi against examination irregularities forced Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to step down in July. The protesters scuffled with paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Dakbungalow. One student suffered head injuries, and another fell unconscious. Students have protested against poor facilities at schools in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Job aspirants and student unions, who had been agitating against alleged irregularities in Jharkhand recruitment exams for nearly a month, announced a 60-day suspension of their sit-in after the government conceded to almost all of their key demands. The student organisations have been opposing the Bihar Public Service Commission’s move to fill 33,000 teacher posts following a preliminary and main examination.
“Every student’s voice heard, every problem resolved—this is the resolve, this is the effort,” he said in a social media post. The Rajasthan government issued guidelines restricting the entry of “outsiders” and prohibiting photography and videography on school premises without prior permission after CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka joined students protesting the dilapidated condition and lack of drinking water facilities at a government school in Alwar as part of their “School Theek Karo” (fix schools) campaign.
The march was organised on the day Choudhary launched a Vidhyarthi Sahyog Shivir (Student Support Camp) for redressing complaints in educational institutions, and for feedback to improve the facilities. The camps will be organised monthly on the fourth Tuesday in educational institutions. Students can file their complaints and suggestions to officials for fast disposal of the grievances.
