Govt ban on teachers joining politics hailed

panaji, nov 9: the working committee of goa government employees association (ggea) has hailed the decision of the government to ban participation of the teachers of aided schools in political activities and described the decision as bold. it has also said that the decision was overdue and was needed to improve the standard of education in the state. the ggea president, mr ajit talaulikar, has in a press note released here stated that a meeting of ggea held on october 7 also discussed the issue of reduction in the number of holidays, by abolishing holidays on mahashivratri, gandhi jayanti, etc, as proposed by the state government and announced by the chief minister, mr manohar parrikar. the press note further states that the ggea members felt that since the state government has already reduced casual leave entitlement from 12 days to 8 days in a year, the government proposal to reduce holidays was unreasonable and that they would oppose the move. mr talaulikar has also stated that since the state was following central pattern in declaring holidays it should follow the recommendation of the fifth pay commission with regard to restricted holidays and raise them from 2 to 8 as recommended by the commission so that the employees had option to choose the holidays as per their needs. this move will also serve the objective of the government of keeping the offices open on all such holidays. the press note further states that the working committee also expressed displeasure on the unilateral move of the government on such matters, adding that the ggea has always co-operated with the government in improving the functions of administration and that such matters should be decided in consultation with each other. the working meeting of the ggea also decided to oppose granting of liberal extensions to retiring officers and also appointing them on contract basis on one pretext or other despite government's own decision to ban them through notification. the issues of mrt staff of electricity department, corporatisation of power department and demands of class iv employees were also discussed.