Teachers protest near DC’s residence

Tribune News Service
Bathinda, October 12

Teachers protested near the Deputy Commissioner’s residence here for almost a couple of hours on Thursday night. They had roped in some local singers and arranged a sound system to ensure that all of them stuck around.

Irked over the cut in salaries in the name of regularisation of jobs by the state government, teachers are now finding novel ways to stage protest.

At 7 pm, SSA-RMSA, Government Adarsh School and model school, 5178 master cadre teachers gathered at Teachers’ Home from where they took out a protest march and sat near Deputy Commissioner’s residence.

The teachers had planned to sit right outside the DC’s residence, but sensing trouble, the police had done barricading on the road towards the residence outside the Circuit House, due to which the protesters had to stop there.

Local singers sang songs, including Punjabi boliyan, lashing out at the state government. The teachers announced that they would gehrao ministers and MLAs.

“The government claimed that state coffers were empty and so to save money, spending on MLAs and ministers should be reduced. But by doing injustice to the teachers, the state government has shown its Hitler’s side. They would be given a befitting reply,” the teachers said.

They criticised the state government stating that the Education Minister and MLAs were getting higher salaries and perks, whereas salary cuts were being imposed on teachers, who had been educating children for the past eight-10 years.