Bihar Govt Suspends 300 Striking Teachers, Lodges FIRs Against 314 Non-Funded Ones

Patna: The Bihar government suspended 296 contractual school teachers on Saturday in Gopalganj and Begusarai districts and recommended suspension of another 70 of them in Patna for not joined the ongoing evaluation of copies of the Class 12th examinations. Besides, the government has also odged FIRs against 314 non-funded teachers (Vit Rahit Sikshak) for similar reasons.

The district education officer Sanghmitra Verma suspended 118 teachers in Gopalganj and district education officer Devendar Kumar Jha suspended 178 in Begusarai on charge of indiscipline and not reporting for evaluation.

Verma and Jha said the action against the striking contractual teachers was taken on the basis of instructions from the top brass of the education department. “Action was necessary as striking teachers were hampering evaluation work”, they claimed.

In Begusarai, an FIR was lodged against 314 teachers for not reporting for evaluation work in different schools.

In Patna, two days after an FIR was lodged against 70 teachers, the district education officer recommended their suspension alleging indiscipline, negligence of duty and not reporting for evaluation work.

There are unconfirmed reports that 122 striking teachers were suspended in Kaimur district on Saturday.

The strike by nearly 4.5 lakh contractual school teachers across the state entered the 13th day on Saturday, with no move by the authorities to talk to them. The teachers are firm on not ending the strike until their demands are fulfilled. They have an eight-point demands charter, including ‘equal pay for equal work’ and reverting to the old pension scheme.

The strike has reportedly badly affected teaching in schools as well as the ongoing Class 10th examination by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB). Yet, there is no move from the Nitish Kumar government to open a dialogue with them, so far.

Meanwhile, organisations and associations of striking teachers expressed dismay over the harsh action by the government against the teachers who are protesting peacefully for their rights.

Bihar Education Minister, Krishnandan Prasad Verma, said blamed the striking teachers’ refusal to end the strike despite the chief minister asking teachers to focus on teaching and assuring them of salary increase just two days ago. He said the government would not tolerate any “indiscipline” to deprive education to students and would take “appropriate” action against striking teachers. He, however, denied that the strike had affected teaching in schools.

Earlier, in a bid to put pressure on teachers, the education department had dismissed two striking teachers from service alleging absence from duty as invigilators for the Class 10th examination. After that, the education department held back the release of salaries of the striking teachers for January and February.

The strike call has been given by the Bihar Rajya Shikshak Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, a joint platform of 26 school teacher associations.

Angry Samiti leaders said government “cannot force us to end strike by taking action against us. All contractual teachers are on strike and they will continue till demands are fulfilled. We are not afraid of actions and threats”.

The leaders also threatened to intensify their agitation if the government did not withdraw the dismissal order of two striking teachers. "Teachers have a democratic right to protest and the government cannot snatch our rights,” they said.

According to Samiti leaders, teachers were not just unhappy but also angry with Nitish Kumar for “deliberately ignoring” their demands of salary at par with permanent teachers in various state government schools.

“We have been raising our demands – equal pay for equal work – for several years but the government has been using different measures to suppress our voices,” said a Samiti leader.