MOTIHARI: A man in Bihar, Ram Kishore Singh, fought for 31 years to get a job as a teacher at a government school. He finally got it only to retire 20 days later. What is worse is that he cannot even draw a pension as he has not completed a one-year service for his job to have been confirmed.
"I got this job after 31 years and got a chance to work only for 20 days. Now the Bihar government says i won't get any pension,"Singh said.
Singh was among the first few of the 34,500 trained teachers appointed by the state government earlier this year following a Supreme Court verdict in a long-drawn case. He completed his teacher's training in 1981 at the age of 29. The next 31 years were consumed in fighting a court case against the government to secure this job. But when the Supreme Court finally settled this in their favour, it was as good as not having it.
He is not the only teacher to have retired soon after joining. According to official sources, many such newly appointed trained teachers, who were enrolled in employment exchanges like these for years but got breakthrough after waiting for decades, are likely to retire within two or three months.
Now in the twilight of his life, Ram Kishore is happy he won his long battle. But the spoils of the war are meagre indeed.