Half-a-dozen women protesters demanding extension of dates of an examination for recruitment of government school teachers climbed down from an overhead water tank at Jagatpura locality here late on Sunday after an appeal from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The exam will begin on January 3.
The candidates appearing in the exam, to be conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, launched an agitation demanding that new dates be fixed in July-August 2020 in view of the upcoming panchayat elections. While several candidates have yet to obtain the qualifying degree, a large number of aspirants serving the government were unable to prepare for the exam due to time constraint.
The protesting women spent more than 32 hours on the water tank. Mr. Gehlot said in a tweet that he was concerned about them and pointed out that the government had extended the exam dates twice in the past. “More vacancies can be created... The government is working in the interest of unemployed youths.”
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Rajya Sabha member Kirori Lal Meena has extended support to the agitation and has spoken up in favour of the candidates’ additional demand for increasing the number of vacancies from 5,000 to 10,000. He led a delegation of candidates for holding talks with Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara on Monday morning.
Mr. Dotasara had earlier refused to accept the demands and declared that the examination would be conducted as per the pre-decided schedule “in view of shortage of teachers in the [government] schools”. However, Mr. Meena said that the protesters would block the rail traffic in Jagatpura if their demands were not met.
