Primary school teachers to protest Maha on September 25

The teachers’ associations have decided to keep all elementary schools in the state closed and stage a march to the collectors’ offices on September 25 to demand cancellation of recruitment of retired teachers through new batch approval and contract method, among other erroneous policies of the state school education department.

Mahesh Sarote, a member of a teachers’ association, said, “The school education department of the state government has not responded to the pending demands of primary schools, students and teachers in local bodies. On the other hand, it has decided to abolish one post of a teacher in some primary schools in local bodies and appoint a retired teacher on contract instead. As a result of these two decisions, the education of students has come to a standstill.”

Ignoring the fact that Aadhar cards are not being issued to some students due to lack of birth certificate, the government has decided to exclude students without Aadhar cards while determining the number of teachers and benefits of the schemes, which is surprising. Primary teachers’ unions in the state have alleged that such government policies are aimed at closing down and privatising primary schools in local bodies and depriving students of their right to free and compulsory education.

Kranti Pathak, a teacher and member of a teachers’ association, said, “A meeting of leaders of primary teachers’ associations was held at Shiksha Bhavan in Pune. From Thursday, teachers will protest against the government by wearing black ribbons. It has been decided that on September 25, all teachers will go on leave and hold a protest in every district.”