Congress Teams Up With State Govt’s Decision On Domicile Policy Withdrawal Of Teachers

The Congress has come out in support of the Bihar government’s decision to withdraw the domicile policy for fresh recruitment of school teachers in the state. The Nitish Kumar cabinet had on June 27 made the announcement, drawing flak from the opposition BJP as well as Left parties.  

Shakeel Ahmad Khan, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the state assembly, told PTI, “The state government must have taken the decision after due consideration. It’s a complex issue and it must be understood in totality.”

Khan, whose Congress party is part of the Grand alliance government and has two ministers in the state cabinet, said, “There is nothing wrong in the government’s decision to withdraw the domicile requirement. If we don’t do it, we have no moral right to condemn instances of attacks on job aspirants from Bihar in other states.”   

“We are all citizens of India. Where does the question of domicile arise? We must appreciate the decision of the state government,” he said. The Congress leader, however, said the state government must initiate a dialogue with those protesting the decision and address their apprehensions.

Hundreds of youths hit the streets of Patna on Saturday against the decision of the Bihar government to allow residents of other states to compete for teachers’ jobs, leading to a police crackdown. However, the state government’s decision to rescind the domicile policy for teachers’ job has irked Left parties, which support the Mahagathbandhan government from the outside.

Left parties have announced that they will raise the issue in the upcoming assembly session starting on July 10. The Left comprising CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI(M) and CPI have 16 members in the state assembly. “This decision is not in the interest of those who are preparing for teachers’ jobs in the state. We strongly oppose it. When several states are not allowing students from Bihar to apply for government jobs there, then why did the Bihar government withdraw the domicile policy here?” CPI(ML) Liberation MLA from Paliganj assembly seat told PTI.  

The state government must withdraw this decision, he added. Echoing a similar view, CPI(M) MLA Ajay Kumar said, “This decision of the state government is sheer injustice to the job aspirants in the state who are preparing for teachers job. We will not allow this to happen.”

Earlier, defending the government decision, Bihar Education Minister and senior RJD leader Chandrashekhar had stated that a number of posts of headmasters in state schools remain vacant because of a lack of qualified candidates in these subjects. He had further pointed out that against 6,000 posts of headmasters, only 369 candidates could be selected.

Hence, the state will get qualified candidates if the youths from other states are allowed to apply and join the schools in Bihar. The quality of school education will improve if talented youths from all over the country were allowed to apply, he had asserted. 

However, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi took strong exception to the decision and demanded its immediate withdrawal. He had said that the decision is an insult to the state’s talented youths as they are being deprived of their well-deserved jobs.