Teachers up in arms against govt

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 15

Thousands of teachers held a mass agitation at Sidhuwal village, 9 km from Patiala city, against the ‘anti-teacher’ policies of the state government. After the state government failed to address the demands of more than 15,000 teachers who protested in Ludhiana, these teachers had given a call for a dhana in the hometown of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for April 15.

Notably, after their demonstration in Ludhiana, they were assured of a meeting with the Punjab Chief Minister on April 2, which got cancelled due to the SC/ST bandh. This was later postponed for April 10, but the meeting was again cancelled without any notice, following which the teachers decided to hold a dharna in the CM’s hometown. They had earlier decided to hold a protest march in the city after holding a dharna at Rajpura Colony but the district allotted them a protest site at Sidhuwal village and urged them to hold a peaceful agitation to ensure that no inconvenience was caused to residents.

The teachers belonging to different organisations under the banner of the Punjab Joint Front of Teachers (PJFT) started gathering at the venue since morning and as the day progressed, the number of protestors swelled to about 15,000.

Raising slogans against the state government, the teachers opposed the state government’s move to fix their salary for the first three years of their service at the basic pay of just over Rs 10,000 per month. They demanded that they be given the full salary as per the pay scale.

Kulwant Singh Gill, convener of the Front, said, “The state government has miserably failed to cater to the interests of teaching fraternity and fulfill the promises made in the election manifesto. However, we will not take this lying down and will fight for our rights.”

Meanwhile, Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi also joined the agitation. Expressing solidarity with the teachers, the MP lashed out at the state government saying that it was hell-bent upon privatisation of education sector. “Teachers are the builders of the nation and it is shameful that the state government was not giving them adequate salary even after years of service. I stand by their demand and will extend every possible support to them in future,” he said.