Carmel axe on another teacher

Carmel Junior College

Jamshedpur, Feb. 4: One more teacher of Carmel Junior College was handed termination letter today even as the 21 others sacked sought help from Jharkhand Education Tribunal (JET), state labour commissioner and district education officer (DEO).

According to sources, the school has decided to terminate the services of 36 teachers, as they do not have BEd degree. The school wants to hire trained teachers so that it can get a permanent affiliation from the Council of the Indian School of Certificate Examinations, Delhi. At present, Carmel Junior College has a five-year provincial affiliation, which will expire in 2011.

Meanwhile, the 21 teachers who were handed termination letters on February 1 and 2 today wrote to the JET, labour commissioner and DEO today, seeking their intervention for a proper solution.

The letter, undersigned by all 21, said the school management had reasoned while sacking them that they had failed to acquire BEd degree during their service period. The teachers sought a clarification that if a BEd degree was a must, then why did the school hire untrained teachers in the first place.

“The new principal, Sister Sylvie, has asked for our resignation letters by February 15 with a month’s notice. We have also been denied our right of gratuity, provident fund and salary,” said another teacher.

When contacted, former principal of Carmel Junior College Sister Flavian, who resigned last June, refused to comment on the matter.

“I think the present principal is competent enough to decide what’s best for the school,” she said.