Mangaluru: Karnataka Primary School Teachers’ Association members will boycott classes for an entire day on July 9 and hold aggressive protest across the state against government for not fulfilling their demands.
Addressing the media, Shivashankar Bhat, president, Dakshina Kannada unit of Karnataka Primary School Teachers’ Association said that the there are over 3,600 graduate primary teachers in the district who have to be promoted on the basis of seniority. “Many primary school teachers started their career before getting a graduate degree. But as per new rules, designated ‘Graduate Primary Teachers’ who had degrees when they got appointed are allowed to teach for class 5 to 8, which is unfair to those who got correspondence degrees. We have been in the teaching field from many years and as per the new rules we will only be teaching up to class 5, “ he said, urging the state government to consider the qualifications of those primary school teachers who were appointed before 2014 for promotions.
He further said that the state government must have LKG and UKG classes in government primary schools. The government must also appoint teachers for every subject. The headmasters must be promoted as recommended under the 6th pay commission and the primary school teachers must be considered to be promoted as deputy directors of school education.
The association has also urged the government to consider service continuity Grameena Kripanka teachers/employees and also continue old pension scheme instead of implementing the new one.
On July 9, the association has planned district level protests by holding a rally from Bavutagudda to DC’s office. A memorandum will be submitted to the chief minister and education minister through the deputy commissioner. All government primary schools will be closed due to day-long protests by around 82,000 primary teachers across the state on mass casual leave. If the demands are not fulfilled, the teachers will be boycotting Teachers Day on September 5 and will hold a ‘Vidhana Soudha Chalo’ movement.