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Journalism of Courage
A teacher of a government high school in Karnataka’s Koppal district found himself in trouble after he shared on multiple teacher groups a WhatsApp forward that claimed the Congress had a “200 per cent chance” to win the Assembly polls.
Somashekar Harti, who teaches at Government High School in Bhanapur, got a notice from the deputy director of public instruction in Koppal on Tuesday, after a local journalist filed a complaint with the zilla panchayat chief executive officer. Harti is the district president of the Assistant Teachers Association.
A block education official from Koppal said the “200 per cent” claim was originally made by a pontiff. “Harti did not create the pro-Congress post on his own. It was a prediction made by a pontiff which was widely circulated. Harti forwarded the post to multiple teacher groups… Sharing such political posts as a government teacher is in violation of the Karnataka Civil Services Rules,” said the official.
Following the incident and ahead of the Assembly elections, education authorities have issued a directive to all government schools in the district to refrain from posting and sharing political posts on social media.
According to education officials, Harti has had a clean track record in the over 20 years that he has been a government schoolteacher. He was a primary schoolteacher before being promoted as an assistant teacher in a high school.
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