Hazaribag Teachers' May Salaries Withheld Over Poor JAC Board Exam Performance

Hazaribag: The May salaries of 400 teachers, posted in 59 govt schools across Hazaribag district, have been withheld by the district administration after their schools displayed poor performance in the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) board examinations.The move comes after district education officer (DEO) Praveen Ranjan issued notices to these teachers on May 13 and sought their responses. The district ranked 14th among 24 districts in JAC class 10 results this year, down seven spots from 2025.The DEO in his letter stated that despite the availability of adequate teachers in schools, regular student testing and available resources the results are not up to the expectation. However, the move left teachers’ outfits enraged. Ravindra Chaudhary, acting general secretary of the Jharkhand State Secondary Teachers' Association, accused govt for deploying teachers more for non-academic tasks.“In 2026 ahead of the peak exam time, teachers were assigned to prepare income, caste and residential certificates for students. Teachers are regularly assigned different non-academic tasks. Employing teachers for non-academic tasks has become a state-level issue. The government needs to seriously address this issue. Instead of encouraging teachers, they are being punished.”