SC and ST teachers protest against education disparity

HYDERABAD: Demanding the state government to strictly implement GO 342, which allows scheduled caste and scheduled tribe teachers to go for higher education, the SC/ST Upadyayula Sangham on Monday protested in front of the department of school education office.
About 500 teachers participated in the protest and tried to meet the director of school education.While the teachers claim that about 200 of them are taken into preventive custody, police said that 30 of them were picked up and were later released.
“We have taken some 30 protesters, who tried to barge into the director of school education (DSE) office and released them by 4pm in the evening with a warning ,” said Srinivas R, sub-inspector of police, Gandhinagar station.
The protesters said that there was a disparity between SC/ST teachers and teachers belonging to other categories.
“We have made multiple requests to education minister and other educational officials, asking them to solve our problems. But the government is least bothered to address our concern and that is the reason why we have gheraoed the DSE’s office,” Kishan Nayak, state president of the organisation.
The protesters said the government’s decision to make amendments to the existing GO will deprive them of higher education opportunities.
“The GO 342 says that any SC or ST teacher with a service of two years can go for higher education and that he would receive full salary for the course period. However, government released a memo to change the eligibility from two to five years.
Also, according to new amendments, only first generation employees will be eligible to get this opportunity,” said S Kailasam, general secretary of the organization.
The Telangana Teachers Federation (TTF) also extended its support to the protesting SC and ST teachers and participated in the protest .
According to the new memo released by the only employees with five years’ service are eligible to take paid leave to study. Also, this is applicable only for first generation teacher’s and would not be considered for future promotions.