Teachers rationalisation row: DEO’s ‘mismanagement’ now under probe

Raipur: In a fresh twist to the ongoing teacher rationalisation process, the women and child development and social welfare minister Lakshmi Rajwade directed Surajpur district collector S Jayavardhan to conduct a cross-departmental inquiry into alleged irregularities. The directive followed a meeting with the Shikshak Sanjha Manch (Teachers' Joint Forum), which strongly opposed the state govt's rationalisation policy and flagged alleged corruption and mismanagement by district education officer (DEO) Bharti Verma. The teachers' forum presented evidence of alleged corruption in the surplus teacher adjustment process. Despite repeated protests and memorandums from teacher associations, no action was taken against the DEO, prompting the forum to seek the minister's intervention. Teachers' associations continuously raised concerns about the lack of transparency and fairness in the rationalisation process, from identifying surplus teachers to their postings.Yadavenra Dubey, Sachin Tripathi, Vijay Sahu, Rakesh Shukla, Gautam Sharma, Rajkumar Singh, Krishna Soni, and Radheshyam Sahu of the Shikshak Sajha Manch said that many assistant teachers, teachers, and lecturers were allotted posts during counselling that were already filled. This led to a chaotic situation where teachers, after being relieved from their previous institutions, were denied joining at their new postings. These teachers were left in limbo, making rounds between the block education officer (BEO) and DEO offices for nearly 20 days. Subsequently, the DEO abruptly cancelled the double-posting orders and issued a vague directive regarding re-posting upon the availability of vacant positions. The situation escalated when, two days after this order, the DEO's office began telephonic counselling for lecturers late at night, pressuring them to select posts in three remote schools. Teachers, taken aback by this sudden telephonic counselling, refused to select posts over the phone.The Manch office-bearers, meeting minister Rajwade at the district-level ‘Shala Pravesh Utsav' (School Enrolment Festival) at Tilsiwan auditorium, informed her that the DEO and her office staff were coercing teachers into telephonic counselling. They questioned the sudden appearance of vacant posts for telephonic counselling when, after the first round, there were no posts left in high schools and higher secondary schools for the division. This, they argued, was unjust to lecturers from the division who were posted in distant areas like Kondagaon and Dhamtari due to a lack of vacancies.The forum also highlighted that the double postings were a result of the DEO's error, and that teachers should not have to suffer by accepting postings in the way. They also sought a resolution for the salary payment issues for these teachers from the date of their relief until now. The teacher's body also complained about the DEO's alleged rude and undignified behaviour towards the public and teachers, demanding strict disciplinary action.Minister Rajwade took note of Manch's concerns and clarified that the probe would not be limited to the education department and the rationalisation committee but would include officers from other departments to ensure accountability. The district collector S Jayavardhan told TOI that he has marked the matter to the additional collector.