Kurseong, June 24: A section of private school teachers owing allegiance to the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha formed an association today in a bid to support the demand for a separate state.

Madan Gurung, secretary of the new body, said the Janmukti Private School Teachers’ Association was formed after the vice-president of the Morcha, Pradeep Pradhan, had given his nod.

Forty-seven teachers from 12 ICSE schools in the hills and the non-teaching staff in those institutions are members of the body. A nine-member committee was also formed today. Apart from Gurung, the panel has Deven Gurung as its president, and Suman Rumba and Beena Pradhan as the vice-presidents.

The secretary said the teachers deemed it necessary to form the association after they found that everyone in the hills was contributing their bits to the cause of Gorkhaland.

“The teachers go to school in the morning and return home in the evening. For want of time, unlike others, we cannot take part in the agitation for Gorkhaland. We feared that we may be isolated in our villages if we kept away from the activities for a separate state,” said Gurung.

With the formation of an association, the secretary said, the teachers could send their representatives to rallies, public meetings and other programmes organised as part of the movement.

When told about the launch of the teachers’ association, Chetan Tiwari, the secretary of the Association of Heads of Listed ICSE Schools’ Kurseong unit, said he could comment only after knowing about the new body’s objectives.