An attempt by student unions, owing allegiance to YSR Congress (YSRC) and other parties, to lay siege to the Chief Minister’s camp office here in protest against the implementation of the G.O. MS. No. 29 was foiled by the police on Thursday.
Issued on May 22, 2017, the G.O sought to rationalise schools, posts and staff in government, Zilla Parishad and mandal parishad schools on the basis of higher student strength vis-à-vis the sanctioned teaching posts and schools with ‘uneconomic strength of students’ (teachers outnumbering the students).
The protesters belonging to the YSRC students’ wing, All India Students’ Federation and Students’ Federation of India alleged that the government intended to shut down about 9000 primary schools to favour the corporate schools and demanded that efforts should be made to improve the viability of government schools instead of closing them in an arbitrary manner.
The police swooped on the students who gathered at Gandhi Nagar and took them into custody by force. The students raised slogans against the government and warned of intensifying the agitation if the controversial G.O was not withdrawn.
On alert across the city on the eve of the ‘Nava nirmana deeksha’ scheduled to be inaugurated by the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the police did not allow the protesters to create any trouble ahead of the commencement of the week-long event.
