Hyderabad: DEOs swing into action against private schools managements

Hyderabad: At last the District Education Officers (DEOs) have to jump into action on growing complaints of denial of salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff by the private school managements.

According to the Private School Teachers Forum (PSTF), no action has been taken so far despite the issue being brought to the notice of the Telangana State School Education Department (TSSED).

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official of the department said that earlier the department had directed all the private institutions to pay the salaries to their staff. However, "Saying this, the TSSED is washing off its hands and the teachers are in such vulnerable positions that they are not able to lodge a complaint directly to the TSSED against the management," the forum pointed out.

Against this backdrop, the District Education Officers (DEOs) were acting based-on the petitions submitted to the Districts Collectors, who are also the chairman of the committee for the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

For example, Chairman of the Karimnagar District DDMA has received a petition complaining non-receipt of the salaries. In turn, the DEOs were told to submit a report on the same.

While the TSSED remained a mute spectator to the issue, the DEOs asked the Mandal Education Officers (MEOs), citing the directions of the Karimnagar District Collector and Chairman of DDMA to gather data regarding the private schools. The MEOs are asked to collect details of the number of teachers in the school, the number of those who have not paid salaries and the duration of the period for which salaries are not received.

Also, the education department officials were asked to record reasons for the non-payment of salaries to the staff and submit their reports.

Meanwhile, the Private School Teachers Forum (PSTF), president Shekshabbir Ali alleged that certain corporate schools are forcing the teachers to campaign for new admissions for the academic year 2020-21. The teachers were told that they would be paid salaries based on their performance in bringing new admission for the ensuing academic year.