Kapurthala/Patna/Bhubaneswar, September 5
Teachers on Wednesday took out protests in several cities of the country to highlight their plight, on a day when the country recognizes the community’s contribution to education.

Punjab witnessed protests. Teachers were lathi-charged in Kapurthala. They said they were getting a meagre amount of Rs 2,000 rupees to Rs 3,000 rupees a month. They had no choice but to take to the street.

“Today we have lathi-charged s without mercy and women protestors have been hurt. The police have treated us very harshly. What have we done to deserve this treatment? Tomorrow, when their (police’s) children grow up and get good education, will they want them to be treated like this?” asked Paramjeet, an unemployed teacher.

Declaring the Teacher’s Day as a “Black Day”, the protesters questioned the state government’s wisdom in giving awards to teachers belonging to only “affluent” schools.

“What is the meaning Sukhbir Singh Badal handing out awards to teachers today?” one of the protesting teachers wanted to know.

In an unusual protest in Patna, thousands of teachers jammed the streets, wearing banana leaves and carrying earthen pots demanding their salaries.

Teachers say they have not been paid salaries for the as many as 25 years and their families are on the verge of starvation.

“We are working without salaries. At the one hand, the government is giving awards to teachers and, on the other, it is not bothered about those who have been without salaries for 22 years," said Sambhu Kumar Singh, a protesting teacher.

In Bhubaneswar, teachers from various parts of the state got together to boycott the Teacher's Day functions.

They covered their faces with black cloth and banged plates to demand jobs. Teachers said the government should fill all vacant post in state-run schools in the state, and should also reinstate those who had been fired.

"The government has thrown many teachers out of job. We have nothing to do now. We have been appealing to the government to help us but they are not listening to us. We had no choice to sit on protest," said Parmeswar Mallick, a protesting teacher. — ANI