AISA held a protest in front of the Bihar Chief Minister to demand that B.Ed students of the 2016-18 batch should be allowed to sit for the Teachers Eligibility Test 2017 and the TET should be held every 6 months. Thousands of students from B.Ed colleges in Patna, Bhojpur, Buxar, Sasaram, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Masaurhi, Darbhanga, Madhubani, samastipur, Bhagalpur and Saharsa took part in the protest.
It should be noted that students of B.Ed 2016-18 are not being allowed to sit for the Bihar government B.Ed exam this year (2017) although this exam is being held after a gap of 6 years. According to the Right to Education Act this exam should be held every 6 months. Earlier there was a very narrow age limit for this exam and B.Com students were not allowed to appear for it. However, in view of this proposed protest the government was forced to extend the age limit and also allow B.Com students to appear for the exam.
The protest march proceeded through Kargil Chowk and sat in a meeting at the JP Golambar Chowk to demand talks with competent authorities. Addressing the meeting, CPI (ML) MLA Com. Mahboob Alam said that the government is playing with the future of students by not conducting these exams on time, and warned the government that the agitation would be sharpened if students of B.Ed 2016-18 are not allowed to appear for the 2017 exam. After about 2 hours the Director of the Education Department met and held talks with a 5 member delegation and gave the assurance that the demands would be considered.
A ‘Rail Roko Rasta Roko’ programme was organized on April 24 across Bihar for the above demands, impacting rail and road traffic in Patna, Bhojpur, Darbhanga, Buxar, Gaya, Jehanabad, Madhepura, Samastipur, Saharsa and other districts. A huge rally was taken out in Jehanabad.
