Primary and middle school teachers in Bihar pushed ahead with their ‘sack-sale agitation’ on Monday by holding demonstrations at all 38 district headquarters in the state and selling empty jute bags in which mid-day meal food grains are supplied to the schools.
They also threatened to intensify their agitation and demonstrate in front of chief minister Nitish Kumar if their demands were not met.
Several groups of teachers marched with banners, placards and bundles of sacks and converged at their respective district headquarters. They demanded the revocation of the government’s order to sell sacks and the suspension of Muhammad Tamizuddin, principal of a primary school in Katihar’s Kadwa block.
The teachers were protesting the Nitish government’s July 22 order asking them to sell the sacks in which food grains for midday meal scheme were supplied to the schools during the financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16, and the suspension of fellow primary school principal Tamizuddin for hawking the sacks in the local market place.
Tamizuddin was suspended on Sunday for “tarnishing the image of the government” by carrying a stack of sacks on his head and trying to sell them at the local market, a video of which went viral on the social media.
The July 22 order was issued after the office of the comptroller and auditor general raised the spectre of revenue loss in its reports relating to 2014-15 and 2015-16 fiscals.
Around 1.27 crore jute bags had reached the schools under the midday meal scheme in those two years. With the teachers asked to sell them at Rs 10 apiece, the government is expecting to rake in Rs 12.7 crore.
“The government is behaving like a dictator and issuing illogical directions. All the teachers are opposing them in a united manner. It should take back its order to sell sacks and revoke the suspension of Tamizuddin. Taking action against an innocent teacher is extremely unfortunate for the educational system in the state,” Bihar Rajya Prarambhik Shikshak Sangh (an association of primary teachers) president Pradeep Kumar Pappu told The Telegraph.
Pradeep added that the “teachers would intensify the agitation and stage a demonstration in front of chief minister Nitish Kumar very soon if the state government did not meet their demands.”
The state government, including the education department, has overtly ignored the ongoing agitation and has not tried to hold talks with the teachers. However, it has issued instructions to district magistrates and superintendents of police to take precautionary measures in the wake of the protests.
Education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary did not take the calls made by this newspaper.