Former Chairman of Legislative Council and former Minister Basavaraj Horatti has taken exception to only teachers being included in teams formed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter written to the Chief Secretary of Karnataka T.M Vijayabhaskar, which was released to the media here, Mr. Horatti had drawn the attention of the Chief Secretary towards his (CS) circular dated March 26, 2020 pertaining to constituting 100 primary teams to combat the spread of the pandemic.
While welcoming the move to constitute the teams, which he has said is relevant, Mr. Horatti has pointed out that as per the circular there would be one teacher in the primary team and two teachers in the secondary team.
“When I was the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education and you (CS ) were the Principal Secretary of the Department, the question of why only teachers were being deployed for various government works including census and election duty was raised. Subsequently we had taken a decision that apart from the teachers, employees of various government departments should be deployed. A letter was written to the Election Commission against deploying only teachers for election work. Later, an order was issued to utilise the services of employees of all departments for various government works”, Mr. Horatti has recalled in the letter.
He has pointed out that according to the latest circular on COVID-19 teams, apart from paramedical staff, only teachers had been included in the teams and other departments had been left out. “Already various government departments have declared holiday and several have been asked to work from home, in a situation where everyone can’t work from home and there was no necessity for all to work from home. In such a situation these employees could be deployed for the COVID-19 related work” he has said.
Clarifying that he is not against deploying teachers for the work, Mr. Horatti has sought to know why only teachers were singled out. “In various departments there are instances of employees not being available during office hours even when there is lot of work to do”, he has said.
Mr. Horatti has said that teachers should not feel that they were being targeted. “I only want responsibility to be shared by the employees of all departments and these teams should have employees from all the departments depending on their numbers. I have also brought this issue to the notice of the Minister concerned and I request you to review your decision to deploy only teachers”, he has said in the letter.
