About 65,000 para-teachers of Jharkhand are hopeful that their 17-year-old demand for regularisation of their services would be addressed after education minister Jagarnath Mahto, who had undergone lung transplant, resumed duty after 10 months.

“Things were moving in the right direction last year but suddenly there was a pause as the minister fell ill and couldn’t resume duties,” said Sanjay Kumar Dubey, a leader of the Ekikrit Para Sikshak Sangharsh Morcha, the para-teachers’ organisation.

Mahto contracted Covid-19 in September last year and had to be airlifted to Chennai in a critical condition in October. He underwent lungs transplant in November and stayed back in Chennai for availing proper medical care. He returned to Ranchi on June 14 this year.

Mahto resumed his ministerial duties on Wednesday after chief minister Hemant Soren, who was looking after the education department in his absence, reallocated the portfolio to him.

“I now want to begin from where I had left,” Mahto said after assuming charge, adding that he would look into the case of the para-teachers.

The minister was scheduled to attend a meeting related to welfare measures for the teachers in September last year when he tested positive for Covid-19.

“I asked for the same file immediately after I took charge and also discussed the matter with senior departmental officers,” Mahto said, emphasising that he was serious about solving the problems of para-teachers.

“Once decided, the families of many para-teachers who died during the pandemic would get some compensation,” Dubey said, adding that the dependents of the deceased teachers would not get any financial help otherwise.

The state government had recruited para-teachers in 2000 for taking classes in its schools that faced acute shortage of teachers and paid them a consolidated monthly remuneration that was much less than the salary of regular teachers.

Since 2004, the para-teachers have been demanding regularisation of their services and a proper pay scale.

However, despite vigorous agitations, they did not get anything other than assurances until the Soren government promised to fulfil their demands, the para-teachers said.

“We are now paid between Rs 12,000 and Rs 16,000 per month. It should be revised to at least between Rs 22,000 and Rs 28,000 as has been already done by some other states,” said another leader of the Sangha, Hrishikesh Pathak.

We also need assurance that we will be able to continue in service upto 60 years, he added.

The government is also considering to allow the para-teachers to continue till they attain 60 years of age and to fill up half of the teacher posts that fell vacant, minister Mahto said.