An Office In Bhopal That Witnesses Stirs Daily; Teachers, Job Aspirants And Employee Groups Repeatedly Return To DPI Over Unresolved Demands
· Free Press Journal
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) in Bhopal has increasingly turned into a permanent protest venue, with demonstrations by teachers, recruitment candidates and education-related organisations becoming a routine affair.
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Almost every third day, groups gather outside the office with banners, memorandums and slogans over pending appointments, promotions, transfers, regularisation and policy decisions.
While officials occasionally meet delegations and assure them of action, many organisations return repeatedly with the same demands, raising questions over whether grievance redressal has failed.
Who protests and why
From 2024 to 2026, guest teachers have repeatedly staged demonstrations seeking regularisation and a higher honorarium. Teacher recruitment candidates have protested over delays in appointment orders and demanded that vacant teaching posts be filled.
Primary and middle school teachers have agitated over pending promotions and service-related anomalies. Teachers have also opposed the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).
Other demonstrations have focused on reservation policies in teacher recruitment, service conditions of physical education teachers, computer teachers and special educators, besides demands from various employee unions for timely implementation of departmental decisions.
Methods of protest
The demonstrations have evolved beyond conventional dharnas. Protesters have organised indefinite sit-ins, rallies, gheraos, symbolic dandavat (prostration) marches, road protests, mass memorandum submissions, black-band protests and hunger strikes.
Some candidates have travelled with their families, while others have adopted symbolic acts such as shaving their heads or marching on their stomachs to draw attention to prolonged delays in recruitment and appointments.
Multiple organisations, divided voices
Experts said education department employees in Madhya Pradesh are represented by numerous organisations, including different guest teacher unions, primary teacher associations, teacher recruitment forums and employee federations.
Over the years, several factions have emerged even within prominent organisations, often claiming to represent the same category of teachers. Differences over leadership, strategy and negotiations have led to parallel protests on identical demands, diluting collective bargaining power.
Instead of a unified movement, the DPI frequently witnesses different groups protesting separately over similar issues, sometimes within days of each other. Shikshak Congress, Rajya Shikshak Sangh, Atithi Shikshak Sangh, Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, Adhyapak Sangh and TET Sangharsh Samiti are among the prominent teachers' organisations.
How the DPI administration responds
The DPI administration said it generally accepts memorandums, allows delegations to meet senior officials and gives verbal assurances that demands will be examined or forwarded to the government. In some cases, meetings are held with the commissioner or senior officers, while at other times protesters leave without any formal interaction. Ravikant Gupta of Guest Teachers Association said that assurances rarely translate into timely orders, compelling them to return to the DPI repeatedly with the same unresolved demands.
Why they keep coming back
Upendra Kaushal, acting president of the State Teachers Association, said repeated protests have become necessary because many demands remain pending for months or even years. Appointment orders are delayed despite completion of recruitment processes, promotion files remain stuck, transfer disputes continue unresolved and policy promises often await implementation.
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