Visually impaired people from Tamil Nadu are protesting in Chennai demanding teaching jobs

For nearly two weeks, more than 100 visually impaired people from across Tamil Nadu have been staging sit-in demonstrations in Chennai with a slew of demands to be met by the state government.

Over the course of these protests, traffic has been disrupted and demonstrators have been reportedly roughed up and detained by the police at important junctions in the city, including colleges, arterial roads, and government offices.

Despite all the disruption and the ensuing chaos, the protestors remain undeterred in their demands; they say many of their demands are provisions they are entitled to under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act of 2016, which haven’t been fulfilled.

The demands fall under three broad categories: 1% reservation in the appointment of assistant professors in 163 government-run colleges, appointment of visually impaired people who have cleared B.Ed and Teachers Eligibility Test as BT (Bachelor of Teaching) assistants or graduate teachers in government-run schools, and 1% reservation for visually impaired in government jobs in accordance with the RPwD Act.

The RPwD Act of 2016 Act replaces the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act 1995, allowing 4% reservation for PwDs in government posts. In accordance with the Act, the Tamil Nadu government passed an order mandating 4% quota in government jobs for specially-abled individuals, with 1% reserved for those who are visually impaired. 

However, the implementation of this order has been haphazard, leaving scores of educated and qualified individuals from the community without jobs, says C Govindakrishnan aka Gopi, Founder of the NGO Nethrodaya, a social service institution for the differently-abled, and a member of the Multi-Disciplinary Committee, Department of Welfare of Differently Abled, Tamil Nadu.

According to Gopi, data from the Statistical Handbook of Tamil Nadu and latest government statistics show that the current government has appointed 60,567 persons over the last 2.5 years, taking the total number of employees working in various government departments to almost 13 lakh.

However, more than 11,000 vacancies are yet to be filled by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, he points out. 

In a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Gopi states that the 1% job reservation for the visually impaired entitles them to 12,991 vacancies in various government departments. However, a mere 1,500 to 2,000 have been appointed so far, he says. 

Activists who are supporting the cause of the visually impaired say teaching positions draw the most number candidates from the community, as there are fewer practical restrictions to this job than in other departments such as law and order and medicine. 

The visually impaired community rues that it has been deprived of its legitimate right to 1% reservation for teaching posts due to the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board’s (TRB) strenuous eligibility criteria. 

In addition to the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET), which is a mandatory qualification after a B.Ed degree to get a teaching job, the TRB conducts an additional exam, which community members say happens less frequently and in a haphazard manner. 

This has left many qualified visually impaired people, who have completed their B.Ed and TET, unemployed in government teaching positions.

Protestors say, while making appointments for teaching posts, the Tamil Nadu government must keep in mind the various restrictions that the visually impaired population faces and the fewer job opportunities they have.  

Tamil Nadu must emulate the eligibility criteria followed in the union territory of Puducherry and the state of Andhra Pradesh, where a B.Ed degree and clearing TET are sufficient for visually impaired candidates to qualify for teaching posts.  

Chennai’s G Elsi and her husband, both visually challenged, have completed their B.A. and B.Ed. Elsi has also completed an M.A. and passed the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test (UGC–NET), the examination for assistant professorship, twice. 

Yet she hasn’t found a job for the last seven years. 

“Recruitments rarely happen. My husband—despite being well-qualified—sells snacks on the train, and I do printing at a local IAS academy,” says Elsi. 

Forty-one-year-old M Sivakumar is among the negligible number of educated people at his village Vedandavadi, in Tiruvannamalai district. He is also the only person with visual impairment to have completed graduation, post-graduation, and PhD. 

Besides these qualifications in Tamil, Sivakumar has also passed the NET twice. However, due to the backlog of vacancies, he says he has missed the opportunity for the last 13 years. 

Sivakumar is currently employed as a guest lecturer at the Government Arts College in Tiruvannamalai.

According to data from the Directorate of College Education, 7,300 assistant professor posts are lying vacant. The visually impaired are entitled to 1% of these posts—which is 73. 

“These posts have not been filled for several years, owing to which qualified visually impaired are deprived of their legitimate appointments in government-run institutions. This is unreasonable and not in accordance with the law,” says Gopi.

“As per UGC’s minimum standard of appointment, I am fully qualified to be an assistant professor in a government university. Yet I have been denied all opportunities to get there,” says Sivakumar, who was part of the protests in Chennai. 

On February 27, the state government issued a statement addressing the concerns of the protestors. 

A special recruitment drive to fill up vacancies for the visually impaired, laptops for the visually impaired students in colleges, effective monitoring to ensure exemption of education and exam fees for visually impaired students are some of the promises the government has made. 

“However, this announcement still doesn’t clarify the precise number of visually impaired candidates who will be hired in teaching positions,” says Gopi. “This is at the crux of our demands,” he reiterates.