'Event duty' leaves Punjab teachers fuming

Chandigarh, December 10

The Democratic Teachers’ Front today flayed the state government for reportedly deputing teachers to muster crowd to the state-level function during the launch of the citizen-centric schemes in Ludhiana.

In a press release, the DTF said though the government claimed to give priority to education, it has been taking non-teaching works from the teachers. The DTF, Punjab president, Vikram Dev Singh, general secretary Mukesh Kumar said a large number of teachers had been assigned duties in several districts to muster the crowd in Ludhiana. Teachers had been made in charge of buses for this work.

Taking the teachers out of the schools on the most important days of the academic session shows the government’s approach to education. The DTF leaders said teachers were not supposed to be in charge of buses in government programmes. “It is unfortunate that the government did not learn any lesson despite the widespread opposition to many such duties earlier. Such decisions of the government are degrading the status of teachers,” the DTF said.