Protests were held in Shivamogga city and Tirthahalli town on Tuesday demanding that the State government drop the move to redeploy teachers serving with government primary schools.
Addressing the protest meet in Shivamogga city, Mahabaleshwara Hegde, president, District Government Primary School Teachers’ Association, said that the circular issued on redeployment was unscientific and against the interests of the teachers.
‘Too late’
He said that the Association was not against the move to transfer teachers from schools that have surplus teaching staff to those facing scarcity of teachers. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) should have completed the redeployment process prior to the commencement of the academic year. It is unfortunate that teachers are being transferred even after classes have commenced. Academic activities will suffer owing to the transfer of the teachers at this juncture, he said.
Moreover, as the academic year has already commenced, the teachers will face difficulty in getting their children enrolled to new schools in places they are transferred to, he said.
Malnad region
D.B. Rudrappa, secretary of the Association, said that in Malnad, the population is scattered and there are many government schools that register a low enrolment. “The State government has planned to provide one teacher to schools with less than 10 students, two teachers for schools that register a strength of 11 to 60 students and three teachers for schools that have between 61-90 students. The State government should work out a different teacher-pupil ratio for Malnad after properly assessing the topographic and demographic conditions here,” he said.
The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the office of Deputy Commissioner in this regard.
Bharatiya Janata Party activists, led by former MLA Araga Jnanendra, staged a protest at the DPI office in Tirthahalli town, where the counselling for redeployment of teachers is being held. Even though prohibitory orders, under section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code, were enforced at the premises to maintain peace and order during counselling, the activists entered the premises, defying the orders and raised slogans demanding the State government withdraw the circular on redeployment.
Some members of School Development and Monitoring Committees of nearby government schools also took part in the protest.
Owing to the protest, the counselling was postponed to Thursday.
