Teachers to strike over ‘govt’s indifference’ to their issues

Jaipur: Govt school teachers have announced a series of protests from May 14 over the ‘indifference’ of the govt to teachers’ issues like delay in transfer of Grade III teachers, non-academic work, reduction in holidays, among others.

Teachers associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh Sunday addressed the media in Jaipur and said that due to the indifference of the state govt and its officials, issues affecting teachers remain unresolved even after over two years of the govt’s tenure.

State president of the Mahasangh Ramesh Pushkarna said that a block-level protest will be held on May 14; at the district level on May 29; a divisional-level sit-in and demonstration at the Bikaner Directorate on June 5; and a final sit-in and demonstration at the Jaipur divisional level on June 10, where a memorandum of demands will be submitted.

“The reduction in summer vacations — implemented under the pretext of increasing teaching days — is entirely unscientific and runs contrary to the prevailing geographical conditions. In a state like Rajasthan, where the severity of the summer heat is a well-known fact, vacation schedules were historically determined precisely on geographical grounds,” said Pushkarna.

Teachers further said that despite thousands of vacancies existing in their home districts, teachers are being forcibly transferred to other districts. They said that qualified teachers have been deprived of the opportunity to serve in their own regions, while schools are failing to secure the necessary teaching staff.

“While schools have been upgraded — in terms of their official status — financial sanction for the corresponding teaching positions has not been issued. As a result, the school buildings now bear the designation of ‘Senior Secondary’ institutions, yet they lack even a full complement of teachers at the ‘Primary’ level,” said Mahendra Lakhara, general secretary of the association.