Patna: Bihar Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari on Thursday assured a group of students, who assembled outside his residence here to press for transparency in government recruitments, that their grievances would be resolved in a time-bound manner.
Security was strengthened as the protesting students reached the minister's residence, a senior police officer said.
"We will assess vacancies across all districts of the state. Based on that, we will issue notifications for more jobs. The window for more recruitments is open. The government is committed to student welfare and is always ready for dialogue," the minister told the students gathered outside his residence.
Assuring that quality education is the government's priority, Tiwari urged them to start preparing for exams because "more jobs will be announced".
"I will talk to the officials of my department and will ensure what is best suited for students," he said.
The government recently announced recruitment for more than 32,000 teachers under the Bihar Public Service Commission Teachers' Recruitment-4.
The group of students, who assembled at the education minister's residence, comprised those protesting at Patna's Gardanibagh for weeks as well as those who are not part of the demonstration, police said.
Notably, thousands of students fought a pitched battle with the Bihar Police here on Tuesday, hurling stones and braving water cannons and lathi-charge, upon being prevented from marching to the chief minister's residence to air their grievances.
The protesters, most of them aspirants for Teachers' Recruitment Exams to be conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission next month, had announced a 'Mukhyamantri Awas gherao' to press the demand for holding the written exams in a single stage, instead of prelims followed by mains.
A section of the protesters also demanded the cancellation of Combined Competitive Exams held by the commission earlier this year, alleging that the tests were marred by "irregularities".
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.