A long march, led by a government school teacher from Rajasthan’s Churu district to Dandi in Gujarat, raising the issues of linguistic minority students, has received massive support on the way. Activists, students and local community leaders have demanded that the State government protect the right to get education in the mother tongue.
The recent withdrawal of a controversial order which had provided for only one “third language” teacher in the government schools has failed to satisfy the protesters. Books in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi and Gujarati have not been supplied to over 20,000 government schools and the teachers have not been appointed in the current academic session.
Shamsher Khan, a teacher in Churu district’s Sahjusar, has led the march since November 1. He is demanding a new staffing pattern in schools, regularisation of madrasa para-teachers, implementation of the three-language formula and creation of posts of minority language teachers in various institutions.
Mr. Khan is the son of former Congress MLA from Churu, Bhalu Khan. Though the march is likely to enter Gujarat on Saturday, no government representatives have met the participants so far. Several sitting and former MLAs of the Congress have written to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot requesting for a sympathetic consideration of the demands. The people in the Shekhawati region have held demonstrations in support of the march and submitted memorandums to the administration.
CPI(M) State secretary Amra Ram led a demonstration in Sikar on Wednesday. The protesters alleged that the State government was gradually finishing Urdu education in Classes 6 to 10 and forcing the minority children to opt for Sanskrit as the third language. Rajasthan Urdu Shikshak Sangh president Ameen Kayamkhani said here on Friday that the government had withdrawn the September 2 order in view of the upcoming panchayat elections.
Minister of State for Education Govind Singh Dotasra has affirmed that education in mother tongue would be imparted to all students.
