City and suburban schools refuse to remain closed

MUMBAI: While schools in Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai remained shut owing to the Maharashtra bandh on Thursday called by the Maratha Kranti Morcha, most schools in Mumbai and its suburbs stayed open. Almost all major private and trust-run schools in Mumbai were open.

Schools in the suburbs, central and western were functioning in both morning and afternoon sessions. The school buses in the city too were working on a regular basis. “We did not have anything going on in our vicinity since the past days so we predicted nothing major in our location. Moreover, all our students travel through the school buses so it is safe for them,” said principal of a Kandivali-based school.

In areas like Andheri, Dadar, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Vile Parle, Kandivali, etc, schools functioned like every other day. On the downside in places like Kalyan, Thane, Dombivli, Ambernath, etc, schools were shut and parents were informed about it beforehand.

Meanwhile, following the Maharashtra employees’ strike that was withdrawn on Thursday, the teachers fraternity met the chief minister on Thursday to press for their demands, related to the implementation of the seventh pay commission that has not been since three years. Talking about teachers, their demands mostly consist of increasing the pay scale, recruitment of more teachers in colleges to decrease the workload, etc.

“We (teachers) have been waiting for the state government to implement the decision. We are doing a noble job, teaching, so it is not good for us to get on roads to fight for the demands,” said Subhash Athavle, general secretary of Mumbai University College Teacher’s Union (MUCTU).

The list of demands has been often sent to the state government and the state education department by the teachers’ union. Since three to four years, the recruitment of teachers in aided colleges and schools are halted. “If there is an issue in the teacher section, the entire system can collapse. Since the recruitment is frozen, the quality of education is been depriving which is a huge concern for us,” said another teacher.

Apart from these, their demands include to bring choice-based credit system (CBCS) for the benefit of the entire community.