Venture school teachers lament ‘lackadaisical attitude’ of Education Minister

From a Correspondent

DHEMAJI, Feb 23: The non- provincialized school teachers of Dhemaji district expressed strong resentment at the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the State Education Minister towards them. They showed their protest by offering puja to Lord Vishnu in the Vishnu Mandir of Dhemaji so that the minister might become kind enough to consider their demands.

The non-provincialized school teachers have been deprived by the education department since a long time. Many teachers died, many retired, many committed suicide and many are on the verge of retirement. These poor teachers have been rendering their service very honestly without getting any fincial assistance from the government. All their hoped were dashed when in the last fincial budget, fund was not allocated for the provincialization of schools. This ‘adamant’ attitude of the government compelled them to go to the temple and perform yagnya.

Accordingly, all non-provincialized school teachers of Dhemaji district led by Haren Mili, secretary of the association, assembled at Dhemaji Vishnu Mandir and offered puja to Lord Vishnu, praying that the State Education Minister might become sympathetic towards them. The Assam High School Teachers' Association also demanded that the government should take positive steps for the provincialization of the posts of thousands of teachers working in venture schools in the State at the earliest.

A senior retired school teacher of Dhemaji lamented that crores and crores of rupees are being spent in the me of opening new colleges and universities but the actual architects of basic education were being totally neglected which might not be a good sign for a developing tion like India. The Assam Government should ponder on this matter seriously and take necessary steps so that the situation of the poor teachers does not deteriorate further, he said.