"According to the orders of the Bihar Education Department, school timing is from 9 am to 5 pm. The number of school vacations for festivals such as Holi and Diwali will be reduced. I am from Auraiya, UP, and it takes more than 24 hours to travel from my place to Darbhanga. Under such circumstances, I will not be able to meet my family even on festivals like Holi, Deepawali, Raksha Bandhan. Moreover, due to the cancellation of the summer vacation (for teachers), I will not be able to go home even at that time. My entire day is consumed in school and there is little time left for me. After due consultation with my family, I have decided to resign from my job". This is from the resignation letter of Aman Gupta, a teacher at Utkramit Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Biroul village in Darbhanga district of Bihar. Gupta, an Uttar Pradesh resident, was selected as a primary class teacher (classes 1-5) through an examination conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) in August. Gupta had joined the school a month ago. Gupta sent his resignation letter to his school principal through Whatsapp and its hardcopy to the education department. In case of resignations, Gupta is not alone — in the last one and half months, over 150 newly-recruited teachers in Bihar have resigned. Though some of them have resigned to take up jobs elsewhere, most of them have allegedly quit mainly because of the reforms initiated by Bihar education department additional chief secretary KK Pathak over the last six months. Rural and distance posting is another reason for the resignation of teachers. The BPSC has recently recruited 1.22 lakh teachers. At present, it is holding examinations to appoint another 1.20 lakh teachers in state schools. Some of the new measures introduced by the Education department include increasing school timing for teachers from 9 am to 5 pm (9 am to 4 pm earlier), at least three inspections in a week, removal of summer vacation for teachers, not closing schools during Rakshabandhan, Teej and Jitiya and reducing Durga Puja and Chhath holidays. Bihar Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) Association president Amit Vikram described several key decisions made by the Education department as illogical. “We have nothing against the government's decision to fill rural vacancies first, but the government should be open to inter district and intra district transfer to allow teachers to swap postings. Further, what is the logic behind holding back teachers at the school during summer vacation when students are on vacation? School hours of 9 am and 5 pm (4.15 pm for students) cannot be sustained. Weak students have to undergo special classes between 3.30 pm and 4.15 pm. They will soon lose interest. Even after all students leave at 4.15 pm, teachers are asked to stay till 5 pm," Vikram told The Indian Express. He also criticised the “compulsive” education reforms. "Let parents’ associations, teachers and government officials meet to decide a midway. More teachers will resign sooner than later. The government has also put a gag order on us. In a democratic system, the government has to listen to all voices," he said. He added earlier school timing had very much in consonance with the Right to Education Act provisions of teaching 800 hours in a year for primary school children and 1,000 hours for students above Class five. A senior education department official said there is very good response to the education reforms. "Additional chief secretary KK Pathak visited several schools and got very good feedback on the education reforms. Certain individuals may be unhappy with the reforms and we cannot do much about it," the official said.
