RSS-affiliated teachers lock offices as part of stir

Offices of education department in the district headquarters and State education directorates were locked down by the agitating Government school teachers on Tuesday. The routine work in the education department offices was affected by the agitation spearheaded by the Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh (RSS), an association of Government school lecturers and lecturer teachers (LT).

 At the State Education Directorate, the agitated teachers also started a relay hunger strike to press for their demands. Acting on the orders of the department, many of the chief education officers (CEO) lodged police complaints against the teachers who allegedly locked the offices.

Meanwhile, the Government which had adopted a tough stand on the agitation of the teacher by taking steps like transferring the leaders of the teachers’ association and asking the education officers to file FIRs against teachers involved in locking the offices softened a bit on Tuesday. The president of the association, K K Dimri was invited for talks by the Education Minister Arvind Pandey on Tuesday afternoon. Informing about the meeting, Dimri told The Pioneer that the minister has assured that the issues related with the department would be resolved soon. The Minister reportedly told Dimri that the demands relating to the State administration and finance would be forwarded to them for consideration. Dimri further said that the association would await the outcome of the proposed meeting with senior officials of the state administration before firming up  the next  course of the agitation.

Notably, in support of their 18- point charter of demands, the lecturers and LTs of government schools have been on the stir mode since July 21. The demands include implementation of Assured Career Progression (ACP) and more promotional avenues.

On Tuesday, the agitating association of lecturers and LTs  received support from other organisations of the teachers and the Government employees. The leaders of other organisations visited education directorate on the day and lent their weight behind the ongoing stir.

Hearing a public interest litigation filed regarding the protest by Government teachers, the High Court division bench of chief justice KM Joseph and justice Sharad Kumar Sharma has directed the State Government to clarify the situation by 2 PM on Wednesday. Udham Singh Nagar resident Ajay Kumar Tiwari had filed the PIL stating that Government schools in Uttarakhand are already suffering from shortage of teachers.

The protest by teachers would further affect academics and future of the school students. The petitioner has sought legal action against the teachers. He has also contended that going on strike is not the constitutional right of such Government employees.