Teachers protest ‘privatisation’ of Punjab govt schools

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, February 8

Government teachers, under the banner of Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), held a protest in support of their demands here today.

They took out a protest march against the government and were soon joined by members of other organisations.

The front’s state president, Digvijay Pal Sharma, accused the government of privatising government schools on one pretext or the other.

“To help private companies in taking over government schools, the government has been handing over the control of schools to village panchayats. Things have gone from bad to worse despite efforts by government teachers,” Sharma said.

Navcharnpreet Kaur, another leader, alleged that to close government schools permanently, the authorities had started merging those.

“Thousands of posts are lying vacant. Unemployed ETT and BEd pass outs have been protesting for regular jobs. But the government is merging schools as it wants to close institutions,” said Balvir Chand Longowal, a DTF leader.

The teachers’ main demands include release of DA, implementation of the 6th Pay Commission report, regularisation of teachers, transfer of 3,582 teachers, cancellation of chargesheets and promotions.