VIJAYAWADA: The decision of the School Education Department to create 692 Mandal Education Officer (MEO) posts was welcomed by Zilla Parishad and government school teachers unions, but it failed to satisfy municipal school teachers.
As part of streamlining the schools in the State, the government issued GO 84 on June 25 bringing the municipal schools under the purview of the School Education Department. Though around 14,000 municipal school teachers in the State are against it, the schools were brought under the purview of the education department without discussing it with stakeholders, said State Teachers Union municipal wing convenor K Ravi Sankar Reddy from Kadapa.
Now, 90 days have passed since the municipal schools were brought under the department. However, no policy decision has been taken regarding salary and transfer of Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDO) as headmasters and provident fund issues, said Sk Imtiaz, president of YSR Teachers Federation, Vijayawada, Medical reimbursement bills, arrear bills, PF bills, 6, 12, 18, and 24-year increment bills have not been cleared for the last three months, he said.
Enrolment in municipal schools increased by 20% this year reportedly due to the reforms being implemented by the government and introduction of English medium.KVV Satyanarayana, Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) district president from Rajahmundry, said last year there was a requirement of 2,400 subject teachers in 335 high schools, but now the number has increased to 3,000. Moreover, there is a shortage of about 700 classrooms.
Bahujan Teachers Association Nellore district president K Venu said 3, 4, and 5 classes of municipal primary schools are being merged into high schools through GO 117, which was intended only for government and ZP schools.On the other hand, municipal authorities are taking back the facilities that had previously been provided along with the staff, affecting payment of maintenance charges, electricity bills, drinking water and school house tax.
After staff were recalled by municipal authorities in some areas, maintaining cleanliness in schools has become a huge issue, said K Venugopal, APTF Chittoor district president.The teachers of municipal schools are being transferred to rural areas and teachers from rural areas are getting postings in municipal schools as per GO 84.Bandi Hena, MTF women wing State president, alleged that it was against the service rules of the municipal school teachers.
State president of Municipal Teachers Federation S Ramakrishna alleged only six municipal schools in 59 Urban Local Bodies were upgraded into Plus 2 whereas 260 Zilla Parishad schools were upgraded.
Municipal teachers will lose their seniority as no District Inspector of School (DSI) posts and Deputy Education Officer (Deputy EO) posts were created for them. On the other hand, 692 MEO posts were created for ZP teachers.The Municipal Teachers JAC decided to stage protests across the State against the “discrimination” of the school education department towards them on Saturday.