Booked for staging dharna, five teachers get notices

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 25

The Education Department has issued show-cause notices to five teachers who were booked for staging a dharna against the Punjab Government on June 22. The department has asked them to explain why their services shouldn’t be terminated.

The Director General School Education (DGSE) has also sought details from all District Education Officers (elementary) of other teachers who took part in the protest outside the Punjab School Education Board office in Mohali so as to initiate departmental action against them.

Phase VIII (Mohali) SHO Lakhvinder Singh said five protesting teachers had been identified, while many unidentified ones had also been booked. He added that 700 to 800 teachers were present at the dharna site.

Meanwhile, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) authorities have told the teachers to submit a written explanation to the DEO concerned within seven days.

A letter was issued by the office of Additional State Project Director, SSA, on June 24, and on the same day, the DGSE office issued a letter to DEOs, seeking details of other protesting teachers.

Members of the Education Providers’ Union have been on a strike in Mohali, demanding the regularisation of services of teachers and regular pay scales from November 2015. On June 22, they had blocked a road but later lifted the blockade after they were told about Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema’s arrival.