Private schools teachers across Telangana to go on strike on July 18

Private schools across Telangana may be shut on Wednesday as teachers across the state have called for a bandh. The Telangana Private Teachers Forum (TPTF) has listed a charter of demands, and unless they are fulfilled, the bandh will go on as scheduled.

According to the forum, as many as 12,000 schools across the state will be affected.

TPTF founder-president, Shabir Ali, said that 2,50,000 teachers across the state will be going on strike to ensure that their demands are met.

The demands

1. Implementation of MS GO No.1
2. Teachers should be given a salary of 12 months through banks, as school managements are only giving them 10 months worth of salary
3. The government should form a private teachers welfare board
4. Property tax on school buildings should be removed
5. The electricity charges that are levied on private schools must be changed from commercial to domestic charges
6. A health card should be sanctioned, and the government should give teachers an accident insurance of Rs 5 lakh
7. Teachers above the age of 50 should be paid a pension of Rs 5,000
8. They should be allowed to vote during teacher MLC elections
9. The Right to Education Act should be implemented, and 25% of seats should be reserved and fee reimbursement should be implemented
10. Every school should implement Employees State Insurance and Provident Fund facilities for teachers
11. A special Act should be brought in to regulate fees in schools
12. Teachers should encourage small-budget schools by extending help by way of bank loans and government subsidies

MS GO No.1 lays down a variety of standards, including the recommended teacher-pupil ratios for schools, asks for the educational agency to adopt a Teachers Provident Fund scheme and all schools should have a governing body

Shabir says that they have knocked on various doors since 2010 for the demands, and have been protesting at the mandal and the district level, and before the Directorate of School Education and School Secretary. “We have decided to call on a bandh as a final resort,” Shabir says.

“The government will have to listen to our demands as we are 2,50,000 teachers and we have our votes. They should listen to us, we have genuine demands. We are educated – we have studied B.Ed, MA, PhD – and we are still teaching in private schools, and the management is stretching us thin. We have no ESI and EPF, no job security, no health security, nothing,” he adds.

Shabir also says that various political parties have also agreed to lend their support to the bandh.