Teachers protest to get FIR cancelled

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, April 20

Hundreds of teachers on Friday assembled in front of the District Administrative Complex to protest against the FIR lodged against six of their colleagues who were booked by the police on the basis of a complaint lodged by the DPI (Elementary Education) on Thursday.

The protesters under the banner of the Shikhiya Bachao Manch demanded withdrawal of the case lodged against the teachers.

Teacher union leaders, including Jaswinder Singh Sidhu and Harjinderpal Singh Pannu, claimed that though teachers in all primary schools of the state had boycotted the ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’ project, the teachers of Ferozepur district became victim of a pre-planned conspiracy hatched by senior officials of the Education Department.

In order to create panic among government teachers, special inspection teams were sent to schools of various districts on April 18, they claimed.

The teachers who had boycotted the project in the district had already apprised the Education Department about their demands through the District Education Officer, said the union leaders.

They alleged that during the inspection at Government Primary School, Bajidpur, DPI (Elementary Education) Inderjit Singh forced the teachers to back out from their protest.

Irked by the turn of events, the DPI allegedly threatened the teachers to face dire consequences and later six teachers were booked, they alleged.

The protesters also demanded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh for Channan Singh, an education provider who had allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the Gang canal near Basti Bagh Wali village on Thursday due to financial problems.