Bihar govt accepts key demands, teacher aspirants call off 10-day hunger strike

The Bihar government on Thursday agreed to conduct the Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-4) in a single phase, bringing an end to the ongoing agitation by teacher aspirants, according to a report by The Times of India.

The Preliminary Test (PT) and Mains stages have been scrapped from TRE-4, and the government has also accepted the "One Candidate, One Result" demand.

Education department secretary Rajiv Raushan was present when teacher aspirants Aman Yadav and Jahnavi Kumari broke their 10-day hunger strike at Gardanibagh on Thursday, being offered juice to mark the end of the protest.


Also read: BJP-led Bihar govt weaponising police to evade accountability to students: Rahul Gandhi

The aspirants called off their agitation after arriving at an agreement with the state government on a range of demands covering recruitment exams, transparency, and reforms to the selection process, per TOI. The resolution came after a meeting chaired by Raushan, attended by senior education department officials, the Patna district magistrate, the senior superintendent of police, the deputy inspector general of the Economic Offences Unit (EOU), and representatives of the teacher aspirants.

Following the meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary took to X to outline the decisions taken. "The govt has been serious about the students' demands from the very beginning. Now, a decision has been taken regarding the students' demands that this year's TRE-4 examination will be conducted in a single phase. Along with this, 9 other important decisions have also been made," Choudhary posted, as cited by TOI.

The government has also set up a special expert committee on examination reforms, headed by a Patna High Court judge, to recommend improvements across various exams and hear related grievances.

Choudhary added that the government has rolled out a "Student Assistance Portal" and "Student Assistance Camps" to ensure quick redressal of student complaints, with resolutions being provided within 30 days through these channels, TOI reported.

The government further agreed to look into demands around transparency in the 70th BPSC exam, the recruitment process for 1,799 Bihar Police sub-inspector posts, and concerns related to the Bihar Eligibility Test (BET) held ahead of assistant professor recruitment.

Complaints and suggestions on examination reforms will be routed to the High Court judge-led committee, with action to follow its recommendations. The sub-inspector recruitment process will proceed once the committee submits its report, while the BPSC will release a recruitment calendar and hold exams at the earliest, per the report.

The state also agreed to act on filling vacant posts through promotions, including librarian positions, and discussed separate criteria and weightage for contractual employees, a cap on the domicile quota in Bihar's recruitment processes, and the maximum age limit for recruitment exams.

On the aspirants' demand for timely publication and strict adherence to recruitment calendars, the government agreed to place proposals before the committee to ensure transparency in question papers, OMR sheets, and answer keys for exams conducted on the BPSC model.

Following the discussions and the decisions reached on their demands, the teacher aspirants unanimously decided to end their agitation,

(With inputs from TOI)