State leaders of the United Teachers’ Federation (UTF) on August 27 (Sunday) demanded the dismissal of Principal Secretary, School Education, Praveen Prakash.
In a resolution adopted to this effect at the federation’s State Council meeting held in Ongole in Prakasam district, the leaders accused Mr. Praveen Prakash of subjecting teachers to mental stress in the name of supervision.
They also demanded the repeal of G.O. 117 and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for government teachers.
Federation president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said officials of the Education Department who spoke in a demeaning way about teachers should work in their posts for two months.
They said there were no two opinions about the fact that effective monitoring of schools was needed, but using it as a pretext to “harass and humiliate” teachers would not be tolerated.
They said officials who threatened criminal cases against teachers should explain why teachers were deprived of their salaries for last three months. “Will the officials responsible for the delay face criminal cases too?” they sought to know.
Non-teaching duties
Stating that classroom work suffered a setback, as teachers were engaged in non-teaching duties, they demanded immediate steps to relieve them from non-teaching duties. Attributing the existing chaos in the School Education Department to G.O. 117, they urged the authorities to revoke it.
Pointing out that the work adjustment process was initiated even before the completion of three months of teachers’ transfers, the federation leaders said such incoherent decisions would adversely impact the quality of education imparted to students in classrooms.
PDF expresses solidarity
Members of the Legislative Council from the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) K.S. Lakshmana Rao, I. Venkateswara Rao and Shaik Sabji said their party would support the UTF demands.
They also demanded immediate constitution of DSC to fill vacant teacher posts in the State, and threatened to resort to an agitation if the government failed to take action against Mr. Praveen Prakash.
The federation leaders submitted copies of the resolution to the Chief Secretary and officials handling the education sector in the Chief Minister’s Office.
UTF State leaders K. Srinivasa Rao, K. Suresh Kumar, A.N. Kusuma Kumari, Gopi Murthy and others participated.
