After spending Diwali in the lock up as punishment for protesting, the Maharashtra Permanently Unaided School Principals Association Action Committee (MPUSPAC) has decided to intensify their stir by taking the matter to the Centre. According to officials, the state government’s inaction has prompted the committee to meet HRD minister Smriti Irani and apprise her of the situation and the government’s apathy towards unaided schools.
According to Prashant Redij, president of the Mumbai chapter of MPUSPAC, following the failure of education minister Vinod Tawde to resolve their problems and fulfill demands, the committee decided to approach chief minister Devendra Fadnavis but in vain. “We decided to protest outside the CM’s residence and around 70 to 80 teachers marched to Varsha in the morning on November 11 which is also observed as Shikshan Din,” said Mr Redij.
However, the teachers were stopped in their tracks as police took them into custody before they reached Varsha and detained them for a couple of hours. Although the teachers insisted they be officially arrested, the police refrained from doing so and asked the teachers to leave in the afternoon. “Our patience has reached its limit and we are not going to accept the state government’s empty assurances anymore. We are now left with no option but to approach the Centre with our complaints and we will be meeting Ms Irani next week,” said Mr Redij.
The MPUSPAC has been agitating for the past few months to get the government to start issuing grants to permanently unaided schools as the latter have been finding it difficult to survive. According to the committee, teachers have been working for bare minimum or no salaries for the past decade and unless the government starts issuing grants, these schools will be forced to shut down. Though the government has agreed to issue grants following a court direction, it has been dragging its feet on the matter. The committee has been protesting non-stop since June this year.
