An estimated 2,000 teachers in 83 of the 130 schools run by the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) staged a dharna, demanding unconditional withdrawal of a circular regarding holding back of salaries for June and appointment of an administrator or an educationist as Secretary to the Society.
They demanded that the Secretary, R.S. Praveen Kumar, an IPS officer be sent back to the Police Department and shouted slogans demanding that an IAS officer be posted as Secretary. They alleged that their salaries were being cut for no fault of theirs. The problem arose when schools re-opened in June, when a majority of students did not turn up.
“How can we help it if parents do not send their children back to school? There are several problems - financial and social, that these poor Scheduled Caste families face, but instead of taking a holistic look, the Secretary is taking it out on us,” argued K. Venkat Reddy, president of the Telangana Staff Association in the Society and K. Arjun, leader of another organisation representing the rights of teachers.
When contacted, Mr. Praveen Kumar said the salaries were not cut, but only an explanation was sought from teachers in schools where attendance was ‘abysmally-low’. “Of the 75,000-odd students who had to come back in the new academic year, only 11,200 were present when the institutions re-opened. In 50 schools where attendance was above average, we commended the teachers for motivating parents. But in 20 schools, attendance was zero in the first week,” he said.
The IPS officer said having studied in a residential school himself, he knew the importance of the teachers’ role. “The difference between parents of children attending other schools and those of children in such Social Welfare Schools is that they do not know the value of education. So teachers are responsible for educating parents, as much as they were duty-bound to impart education,” he said.
