Students across Raj protest over teachers’ issues

Jaipur/Jodhpur/Ajmer/Bikaner/Udaipur: Ahead of Teacher’s Day, students in various districts of Rajasthan like Jodhpur, Ajmer, Bikaner, Udaipur, Tonk have been protesting for almost a week due to transfer of teachers’ or lack of teachers to teach them. In many villages, students staged a protest outside the school and did not attend classes.
In Jodhpur, protesting the transfers, students have been demonstrating by shutting the gates of the schools and demanding cancellation of the transfers. Students from a school in Nausar of Lohawat block in Jodhpur locked the gate and protested on Saturday after transfer of three teachers from their school.
The students and villagers said that they have only 11 teachers out of 22 sanctioned posts and this transfer will further disturb the teaching process.
Later, block education officer Kesaram Bishnoi assured them that the teachers will not be relieved and assured to appoint three more teachers on deputation in the school.
Since three days, a series of incidents have been witnessed in Jalore and Jodhpur districts where the transfers of some teachers have irked the students.
On Saturday, in government higher secondary school Karwara in Jalore’s Raniwara block, students shut the gate of the school protesting the transfer of a teacher. Since the transfer order was issued earlier this week, students have been protesting against the education department but on Saturday, they shut the gate and blocked the main road leading to traffic jam. Later the administration managed the situation and assured students that two teachers will be appointed on temporary basis.
On Friday, students from a school in Doongari in Raniwara block demanded transfer certificate from the school administration as they did not study in absence of their teacher.
In Bikaner district, students, and villagers of Aadsar village in Sridungargarh tehsil on Saturday locked their school in protest against the transfer of five teachers within a week.
Shiv Joshi, the village head said, “All the three school lecturers who were posted here were transferred at once along with three out of give second grade teachers. The government is least bothered about the students in government schools.”
The villagers also said that they would not open the school until the required numbers of teachers were transferred here. The district education department tried to talk to the protesting villagers, but they said that the protest will stop only when there are required number of teachers.
Meanwhile, education department officials from Ajmer, which also saw protests in the past three days said that they are looking into the details of different protests to check if the students have been instigated by someone.
In Tonk district, students of Bharani village locked the main gate of the school on Friday in protest demanding cancellation of transfer of their mathematics teacher.
In Udaipur district students at government school Bhanpura in Saira village along with the locals on Saturday morning took to the streets and staged a protest against the administration over shortage of teachers and locked the school gate and blocked the Saira-Kelwada Road. The protest lasted for nearly five hours and ended after a written assurance from the education department. The protest on the highway led to a traffic jam with hundreds of vehicles stranded on both sides of the road.
Panchayat Samiti member Ravindra Singh Ranawat said, “There are about 250 students in the school. Against the approved staff of 14 teachers including the principal at present there are only three teachers posted in the school. The shortage of teachers affects the education of children.”
Meanwhile, in Bhilwara district’s Amesar village, a video went viral on Saturday in which girls can be seen crying over the transfer of their teacher Mahendra Meena was posted as a senior teacher and had been working for the past 10 years. Students narrated that the teacher brought discipline and 100 percent results in board exams. Meena has been transferred to Dausa, his home district. In the video, villagers are also seen demanding that the teacher must remain in the school.
In another school in Bhilwara district, students blocked the Shahpura highway for two hours after they learnt that their political science teacher has been transferred.