Disgruntled teachers plan to lay siege to Secretariat tomorrow

Hyderabad: The Upadhyaya Sanghala Porata Committee (USPC) had decided to lay siege to the State Secretariat on December 28, demanding justice to teachers suffered on account of GO No 317.

The State Steering Committee of the USPC had taken stock of the situation unfolding in implementing GO No 317 at an emergency virtual meeting called late on Saturday night.

The USPC demanded the State government to implement the allocation of schools on an ad-hoc basis, and allow all the teachers to give their preferences during the routine transfers.

Calling the State government's decision "unilateral and irresponsible", it said, the allocations turned into "forcefully transferring teachers from their native districts to other districts."

Members of the teachers' associations expressed their anguish at the nativity issue, which was the core during Telangana agitation. It was unfortunate that teachers had to go to some other districts and work there as non-locals permanently, the USPC said, adding that barring one, all other teacher associations had unanimously given their views during a meeting held with State Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy recently.

However, the government had gone ahead unilaterally implementing the GO without considering even a single issue on which the teachers associations had expressed unanimity, it claimed.

They pointed out that the GO had asked the wife and husband allocated different districts to apply for spouse transfer only after the completion of current allocations. Many anomalies had cropped up in preparing district-wise seniority lists and the teachers were asked to submit appeals for rectification. But, the process of allocation of schools started without resolving the problems, they rued.

Further, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar had announced in Ranga Reddy District teachers associations meeting that teachers would be given an opportunity for mutual transfers and assured to convert school posts into zonal posts. The teachers were made to believe that the school allocations would be done along with the routine transfers during summer. Now, teachers have been given permanent school allocations. In turn, the teachers were losing the service and station seniority. These issues have been taken to the notice of the education department officials and the Chief Secretary from time-to-time, but in vain, they said.

Against this backdrop, the USPC had decided to lay siege to Secretariat to highlight the woes faced by teachers in implementation of GO No 317.