Teachers to step up stir

The teaching and the non-teaching staff of various schools of the Vadodara city and district, meanwhile, called off their hunger strike on Sunday. However, in a move to draw the government’s attention they will symbolically ring the bell in front of the District Education Office on Monday.

Nearly 50,000 teachers from districts and talukas will enter Gandhinagar to stage a rally and gherao the Assembly on June 30, said co-ordination committee president Ashok Shah today. Preparations are on with 25,000 teachers landing in Gandhinagar tomorrow. “After the lathicharge in Mehsana, we have no option but to take to violent means of protest”, he declared.

Other plans include, gherao of the Education Secretary and a students’ rally, and connections for parents to mobilise opinion. Some students and parents’ bodies have already pledged support to their cause.

“Minister of State for Education Anandiben Patel’s statement to reopen the schools from tomorrow was only a request. We cannot be forced into withdrawing our agitation till all the three demands are met," said Shah. He said directives would be issued to district-level teachers and principals at a meeting being convened by the committee at Saraswat Bhawan in the evening tomorrow.

The teachers have agreed that it is 30 per cent their responsibility to make sure that students did not suffer. A gurukul yojna has been chalked out under which teachers will hold classes for X and XII students outside schools all over the State from July 3. In addition, the teachers have pledged to make up for the lost time by conducting classes on Sundays and during the Diwali vacation.

According to teachers, many in the BJP Government had supported their cause when they had first protested during the previous Dilip Parikh government. They will observe July 2 as Sankalp Diwas when some 25 teachers, who are BJP workers, will quit the party to protest against their leaders’ contradictory stance.

If they fail, the coordination committee will gherao them, according to a statement.

The committee came down heavily on the Government announcement of referring their case to the anomaly committee. It cited instances where the government had referred the issue of surplus teachers on March 5 to the anomaly committee but on March 9 issued a letter, solving the case on its own. The other six cadres of government officers had also got the benefit of the Fifth Pay Commission without their case going to the anomaly committee.