BENGALURU: Hundreds of government pre-university government lecturers, who had come to the city from across the state to attend a state-level meet on Wednesday, had to wait for two hours for the chief guest — Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait — to arrive.
The minister, who was supposed to come at 1pm, arrived at 3 pm, and that too, after the lecturers’ association office-bearers went to his official residence and requested him to come.
Meanwhile, the lecturers at the conference killed time till Sait arrived by entertaining their peers. Some of them took to the stage and participated in singing, monoacting and cracking jokes. A lecturer from Mandya said, “We organise the state-level conference once a year and we expect the minister to be present and also to be on time.”
A lecturer couple said, “Me and my wife have come all the way from Belagavi. We need to return by the night train. Attending the conference organised by our association is a pride and that is the only reason we are here. We are not here to see the minister.”
Justifying the delay, Sait said, “I was in a situation where I could not attend this programme. There were many people waiting at my residence to meet me with their grievances. As the association office-bearers requested, I came.”
Weekend coaching for all
Weekend coaching classes, which were conducted for second PU students from SC and ST communities during March 2017 to prepare them for the final exams, will be extended to students from all sections across the state from the current year. Addressing lecturers during the conference, Minister Tanveer Sait said, “The remedial teaching was a success and we also received suggestions that caste should not be mixed with education. So, we have decided to extend it to all students and at all the taluks.”