The Bihar Education Department has deducted the salaries of 12,987 school teachers in the last six months, as they were found to be absent from duty during inspections, a senior official revealed today, Friday, December 29.
In addition to this, the department has also suspended 39 more teachers for committing various teaching violations in the last six months, while 13 teachers were dismissed from their posts for allegedly being absent from duty for periods ranging from six months to two years without prior approvals – in addition to also violating provisions of teachers' recruitment regulations, PTI reports.
"In the last six months (till December 23), the department has so far deducted salaries of 12,987 teachers who were found absent (for six months to two years) from their duties without permission from the competent authority. Recommendations have also been sent for the salary deduction of 131 more teachers,” the department official revealed, on the condition of anonymity.
The state education department has already come under fire for certain recent teacher-related circulars.
On December 26, the Bihar Raj Bhavan wrote to the chief secretary of the state, requesting quick "corrective measures" against orders that were deemed "unconstitutional" and "autocratic" that had just been issued by the education department's higher education department.
Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar stated that he believed the department appeared to be in the process of "destroying the academic environment in the state" by issuing these instructions.
The opposition BJP and the Mahagathbandhan
Following the orders of its Additional Chief Secretary, KK Pathak, the department began a thorough inspection of schools on July 1. Officials from the department's roster are inspecting schools under their control at all levels, from the block to the district.
The state education department has also released several strict initiatives to raise the standard of education in the state.
Certain circulars are "autocratic"?
"I must say that certain circulars of the department pertaining to teachers are autocratic in nature. We are also in favour of reforms in the education system in the state but it should be done with a human face," says Sandeep Saurav, an MLA from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML) to PTI on Friday, December 29, reacting to these departmental actions.
He added that teachers should neither be held responsible for all sorts of flaws in the education system nor be the only ones blamed for everything wrong with the education system.
The CPI-ML is an alliance partner of the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar.
Nikhil Anand, a senior BJP leader, echoed these sentiments and said, "There is no doubt that certain circulars or orders issued by KK Pathak are against the democratic norms.” He also asked how almost 14,000 teachers in the state are facing notices, suspension, dismissal and salary deductions.
PTI claims that Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar was not available for his comments on the issue, despite multiple attempts to reach out.
