Lucknow students protest again over teacher shortage
Girls at a government-run residential school in Lucknow staged a protest amid heavy rain on Monday, August 17, blocking traffic at two intersections over a shortage of teachers and disrupted classes, in the second such demonstration by students of the institution in four days, officials said.
Students of Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya left the school around 9 am and gathered at the Dubagga-Kanpur Bypass and Balaganj intersections with posters and banners, some sitting through the rain with towels wrapped around their heads while others formed a human chain blocking the busy junction during morning peak-hour traffic. The demonstration came three days after male students of the same school held a similar protest on Friday, August 14.
Police were deployed to manage the disruption, and the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), the Assistant Commissioner of Police for Kakori, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and the Chief Development Officer reached the site and persuaded the students to end the protest.
The students, referred to by officials as Gen Alpha, were subsequently taken back to the school, where senior officials held discussions with them, and traffic returned to normal, police said.
The students' central grievance was a shortage of teachers, which they said was affecting classes. A student who identified herself as Anamika said the school ran from 8 am to 4 pm with assembly sessions lasting nearly two hours, leaving little time for extracurricular activities.
She alleged that although the school had a large number of science-stream students, it had only a chemistry teacher and no physics or biology teacher, adding that board exams were approaching while classes and online sessions were being disrupted by the shortage.
The students also demanded action against the warden and the appointment of additional teachers, warning of a fresh protest if their demands went unaddressed.
Social Welfare Department Director Sanjeev Singh said officials had spoken with the students and were working to resolve their grievances through dialogue. A department official said senior officials of the social welfare, education and police departments, along with school authorities, held discussions with students on campus after they were brought back following the morning protest.
The matter is also tied to a case on teacher appointments in Social Welfare Department-run schools that was scheduled for hearing before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday, with further action on appointments expected to depend on the proceedings.
The Lucknow protests follow similar demonstrations by school students over education and infrastructure issues in Fatehpur, Hamirpur and Kannauj in recent months.
(Inputs from PTI)
