Language Minority Teacher Recruitment: Honour the Promise or Face Intensified Agitation, Says Solidarity Youth Movement
ಉರ್ದು ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಭಾಷಾ ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತ ಶಿಕ್ಷಕರ ನೇಮಕಾತಿ: ಕೊಟ್ಟ ಮಾತು ಉಳಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಹೋರಾಟ ತೀವ್ರಗೊಳಿಸುವ ಎಚ್ಚರಿಕೆ
Government urged to honour assurance on 800 Urdu and 200 Marathi teacher posts
Bengaluru: The Solidarity Youth Movement Karnataka has urged the State Government to immediately honour its assurance of providing fair recruitment opportunities to candidates from Urdu, Marathi and other language-minority media, warning that any backtracking could trigger intensified protests.
The issue surfaced during the notification for the recruitment of 15,000 teachers, when candidates from language-minority media, including Urdu and Marathi, were reportedly not adequately considered. The decision disappointed thousands of aspiring teachers. Following sustained demands from candidates and various public organisations, the government had given an assurance that recruitment would be undertaken for language-minority teachers, including 800 Urdu and 200 Marathi posts.
Candidates await clarity on promised posts
Based on the government’s assurance, many candidates had suspended their agitation and were waiting for a fresh recruitment notification. However, reports that the government may now restrict recruitment to a much smaller number of posts have caused fresh concern among aspirants, the organisation said.
Solidarity Youth Movement Karnataka State President Dr Naseem Ahmed said limiting the earlier assurance would amount to injustice to language-minority candidates. 
“The government should not push the future of thousands of eligible candidates into uncertainty by reducing the number of posts it had assured. Once the government gives an assurance, it also has the responsibility to implement it.”
He urged the government to issue an immediate clear order to fill all the announced posts, including 800 Urdu and 200 Marathi teacher positions.
‘This is about equal opportunity and social justice’
Dr Ahmed said ministers representing the government had also publicly acknowledged the proposed recruitment of around 800 Urdu and 200 Marathi teachers, including before the media. “If the government now goes back on its word, candidates will be left with no option but to take to the streets. This is not the right course,” he said.
The organisation stressed that employment opportunities for Urdu, Marathi and other language-minority candidates are not merely an issue concerning one recruitment exercise. They involve equal opportunity, language rights and social justice.
It called on the government to clarify its position immediately, remove confusion among candidates and proceed with the full recruitment promised. If the government fails to fill the announced posts, the movement said it would join candidates in intensifying the agitation through statewide protests, petitions, awareness programmes and other phased actions.
“The government must not treat this as a matter of prestige. It should view it as a question concerning the future of thousands of young candidates and implement the complete recruitment as promised,” Dr Naseem Ahmed said.
