Gujarat government cancels notification asking primary teachers to work for 8 hours

Following an uproar, the Gujarat government on Wednesday cancelled a notification, issued recently, asking primary school teachers to work for eight hours every day as mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009.

The notification issued earlier this month by the Director of Primary Education stated that primary school teachers will have to work for eight hours from Monday to Friday and for five hours on Saturdays.

The notification cited an RTE Act rule which says that primary school teachers are required to work for 45 hours a week.

The decision to cancel the notification was taken at the Gujarat cabinet meeting.

"During the cabinet meeting, the state government has decided to cancel the notification issued by the Director of Primary Education. Teachers can continue to work for that much time which is needed to finish their work satisfactorily," state Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasamatold reporters in Gandhinagar after attending the meeting.

Had the order been implemented, teachers working in government primary schools would have ended up working around two hours extra than the usual working hours.

Various unions representing teachers had opposed the increase in working hours and asked the government to consider withdrawing the notification.

The opposition Congress had also demanded that the order be rolled back.

"We had made a representation to the state government to roll back this notification. This was an issue of the self-respect of two lakh primary teachers. I am glad that the government has decided to withdraw this notification" said Ghanshyam Patel, state president, Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh.