Thousands of Government school teachers under the banner of Uttarakhand School Teachers Federation took out a rally from Parade Ground to Secretariat in support of their 17 point demands on Thursday. Due to the day long protest called by the Federation, education in the Government schools in the State was adversely affected.
The Uttarakhand Education Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani said that several demands of teachers were addressed recently by the department and steps will be taken to address their remaining demands. He appealed the teachers to lay emphasis on teaching with dedication and honesty rather than focusing on carrying out protests.
In place of reaching their respective schools, teachers reached Parade Ground to protest. Students reached their schools but they found their teachers absent. Government Inter College, Nalapani, Class IX student Neha, who was returning from the school along with her classmates said that only one teacher was present in the school and teacher told the students to remain in the school till 1 pm.
More than 2,000 teachers of Government primary schools, Government junior high schools, Government high schools and Government inter colleges assembled at Parade Ground and raised anti-government slogans.
Addressing the gathering, federation president PS Gusain alleged that despite submitting several memorandums
containing pending demands to the education officers, the authorities have remained
apathetic.
The federation members rallied through various parts of the city before reaching the Secretariat where they were stopped by the police at the barricading. During the rally, road users experienced traffic congestion at Clock Tower and Astley Hall. The federation spokesperson Dharanjay Uniyal said that they will intensify their protest in future if demands are not met.
Their demands include Assured Career Progress for teachers like other government employees, upgrading junior high schools to high school, 20 earn leave for teachers, increasing teachers’ entry scale to Rs16,290; increasing teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 62 years, rectification in categorisation of schools located in accessible and inaccessible areas and others.
Bahuguna uses different gate
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who leaves office by using VIP gate, had to leave his office situated at the Secretariat by using gate of Rajpur road side due to Uttarakhand School Teachers’ Federation day-long protest at the Secretariat on Thursday.