Leaders of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) on Thursday were placed under house arrest to thwart their proposed picketing of the Collectorates across the State. As part of their 100-day protest, the APTF exhorted members of the fraternity to put up a united fight to achieve their pending demands.
Federation’s State president Chennupati Majula, who participated in the protest at the Ongole Collectorate, reiterating the demand for repeal of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and revival of the old pension system. She said the protests would continue till the government conceded their demands.
General secretary K. Bhanu Murthy and secretary D. Saraswathi participated in the protest at Srikakulam. They said the proposed merger of Classes 3 to 5 in the primary schools with high schools would deprive many children from the economically backward sections, especially in the rural areas of education.
Federation former general secretary P. Panduranga Varaprasada Rao addressed the protesters at Vijayawada Collectorate and accused the authorities concerned of systematically working on a plan to privatise the education sector. He also found fault with GO 117, “as it would increase the workload on the existing inadequate strength of teachers and adversely impact the quality of education”.
The leaders also demanded continuation of both Telugu and English as medium of instruction in schools and grant of a minimum of 27 % fitment allowance in the PRC.
Their other demands included immediate steps to fill the vacant teacher posts, jobs to the kin of teachers who died of COVID on compassionate grounds, PF facility to municipal teachers, grant of DDO powers to school headmasters and repeal of outsourcing and contract policies in gurukul societies, model schools and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs).
The federation plans to stage relay hunger strikes from August 16 to September 17 in Vijayawada in support of its demands.
