Teachers to agitate during assembly's winter session

Pune, Oct 23 (UNI) Around seventy thousand teachers from Primary to Junior colleges, working in permanently unaided schools in Maharashtra, have decided to go on an agitation for their long pending demands, including conversion of these schools into government-aided, on November 19, during the winter session of the state Assembly in Nagpur.

Talking to UNI, Dnyaneshwar Dalavi, President of Pune Zilla Kaayam Vina Aundaneet Shala Kruti Samiti (Pune District Permanently Unaided School Teachers Association) said here today the government does not pay teachers, working in such schools. The school teachers are paid from students fees. However, most of the students who attend these schools are from below the poverty line and are unable to pay their fees.

Mr Dalvi said all Marathi-medium schools are located in remote villages, where no other education facilities are available within 15 kilometres. "It is also dificult to find teachers in such areas and the teachers who are already working are not even paid for their efforts'', Dalvi said.

Considering this, the association has demanded that these schools be converted to government-aided schools so that the teachers will get a minimum amount of salary every month. Despite conducting several agitations in the past, the government has neglected their demands, Dalvi alleged.

A delegation of the samiti today submitted a memorandum each to the office of district collector and education board here in this regard where five hundred teachers participated.

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