Mass leave protest a failure, says Minister; teachers’ forums deny claim
The Minister claimed that of the 1.46 lakh teachers who were supposed to be present on Saturday, 1.17 lakh turned up. Only 19.94% of the teachers were absent.
Even as Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty claimed that the mass leave protest by teachers’ organisations affiliated to the Opposition on Saturday had been rejected by teachers, the organisations’ stance was that it was a huge success.
The organisations affiliated to the Opposition have been protesting against the “unilateral” government decision to make 25 additional Saturdays working days to achieve 220 working days in this academic year.
The Minister claimed that of the 1.46 lakh teachers who were supposed to be present on Saturday, 1.17 lakh turned up. Only 19.94% of the teachers were absent.
The General Education department had brought out an academic calendar with 220 working days in the wake of the High Court’s order. Despite this, meetings were held with teachers’ organisations three times. They, however, had ignored the assurances given at the meetings and given the call for mass leave.
The Minister said Kerala was among the States that had the least number of working days. Most States had 230 or more working days. Many States had longer school hours too.
The protest was a success despite attempts to sabotage it using education officials, the Kerala Pradesh School Teachers’ Association said. The general education sector would not survive by making Saturdays working days. If the government intention was to save it, teachers and students should be taken into confidence, rather than try and impose decisions on them, it said.
The National Teachers’ Union expressed hope that the protest by teachers, irrespective of their political affiliations, would end in the government making corrections. The government was disregarding the Right to Education Act by trying to make Saturdays working days for students.
The All Kerala School Teachers Union (AKSTU) had said it would observe protest day by wearing badges, though it would not support the class boycott.
The Kerala State Teachers’ Centre also observed protest day, and demanded that the academic calendar be redrawn.
Higher secondary
The Federation of Higher Secondary Teachers’ Association also claimed that the majority of higher secondary teachers’ organisations stayed away from the teacher training on Saturday. The federation had sought that the teacher training scheduled for Saturday (June 15) and June 22 be shifted to other days as Saturday was not a working day for higher secondary classes, but the response was not favourable.
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