Teachers pour out woes on their day

Mangalore, September 5: With black ribbons on their hand, teachers of Mangalore taluk showed their dismay concerning various decisions of the government at the Mangalore taluk-level Teachers Day celebrations held at AB Shetty Hall on Monday.

Expressing their dissatisfaction, a memorandum was submitted to the District-in-Charge Minister which had various demands such as discontinuing the 10-day residential training given to teachers by the SSA as it was very problematic for teachers to stay away from home, exclude teachers from the election duty as they are not able to impart education.

They also pointed out that they are not allowed to give chores to children such as sweeping and sobbing but on the other hand they have been asked to teach children about basic hygiene. The authorities have not made any other alternative arrangement on who has to do the school chores, they said.

The additional teachers in aided schools have been transferred depending on the ratio 1 teacher for 40 students.

They should not be relieved unless teachers are not appointed according to the ration 1:30, said the teachers. They also questioned on the decision on not appointing a headmaster to schools with less than 120 teachers and asked on who has to take charge in place of the head master.

After inaugurating the programme, District-In-Charge Minister Krishna J Palemar responded to the issues raised by their teachers and assured them help. Stating that education is not only academic but all round, he said children should know how to do various chores as it will help them in future.

He also said that he shall speak to the election commission about the problems being faced by the teachers.

Karnataka Legislative Assembly Deputy Speaker Yogish Bhat regretted that DK district which used to always occupy the first or second place in SSLC results, is now lagging behind.

This indeed is a black spot and more concentration should be paid on motivating the students, he said.

He also advised teachers to leave their personal issues aside and concentrate on the development of the students.

MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik appreciated the teachers as they live honest life only with their salary.

He also assured to look into the various problems the teachers face.

Retired teachers were felicitated on the occasion.