Fifteen years ago, Muhammad Muneer Lone was excited after being appointed an Education Volunteer (EV) in the School Education Department.
However, his joy was short lived as he soon got caught in the official wrangles of the department.
For past year, he was not paid his monthly wages even as he had to spend a fortune on his treatment after being diagnosed of cancer.
Two days ago, Lone, a teacher from Girdawana Nowshera area of Baramulla district lost his battle to the dreaded disease, leaving his family shattered.
Lone was appointed an EV in 2005 with monthly wages of Rs 3000. He was absorbed in the department as ReT in 2013 and was supposed to be regularised in 2018.
Even though the process of his engagement in the department as Grade-III teacher was started in 2018, it hit a roadblock due to official wrangles.
“He was suffering from cancer and could not bear the expenses for his treatment as the department delayed his regularisation in the department as Grade-III teacher. The delay left him without salary for a year,” said Umar Bhat, a teacher from Baramulla.
The J&K administration in 2018 started an exhaustive exercise to absorb all SSA teachers as Grade II and teachers in the department. The process was completed within a year but the files of the EV-converted ReT teachers are still pending with the department.
According to teachers, the department did not only subject Lone to “mental trauma” but dozens of other teachers like him, all of who are without salary for the past more than one year.
“Muneer was getting only Rs 3000 to feed his family but it is unfortunate that the department withheld this amount for the past year,” another teacher said.
The teacher said Muneer could have managed the expenses of his treatment had the department regularised his services and paid his monthly salary on time.
“He struggled all his life and was waiting for his regularization for the past two years now. Unfortunately, the department kept the cases pending on one or the other pretext,” he said.
The teaching fraternity in Baramulla has expressed its dismay over the alleged malfunctioning of the department.
“The death of our colleague should shake the department. The department has always exhibited an indifferent attitude towards the teaching community. Our salaries are denied for no reason and the initiative of our career advancement always takes a back seat,” another teacher said.
Director School Education Kashmir (DSEK) Muhammad Younis Malik said the department did not delay the regularisation process of any teacher in the department.
He said of all 40,000 teachers, there were only 300 to 400 cases of EV teachers.
“They were appointed after qualifying Adeeb degree,” he said.
About Lone, he said the directorate had written to the district level screening committee but did not receive the degree certificates which are requisite for teachers to get absorbed in the department.
“But now we have decided that the teachers whose files are pending should get their salary till the process for transaction as Grade II and Grade III gets completed,” he said.