HYDERABAD: After issuing directives to its teachers that each one has to get a minimum number of five admissions, the management of a private school at Bowenpally in Secunderabad is learnt to have terminated the services of 13 teachers for their alleged failure to get the designated number of new admissions. The school in question, Bhashyam school, however has refuted the allegations.
Since February the teachers who could not get any new admission have had to suffer a pay cut of Rs 1,000. The final blow came on April 19 when the teachers were called one by one and handed over the pink slip without any explanation or the mandatory one month's notice prior to the termination of their service.
"It was sudden. We were called individually and told that our services were no longer required. We asked why it was being done but they didn't tell us anything explicitly. But we have come to know that those teachers who managed to get new admissions have been retained and only those who failed to do so have been sacked," said a teacher who had joined the school recently.
Another teacher claimed that she had suspected that a few of them would be shown the door. "But we did not expect that so many would be removed and that it would happen like this," said the senior teacher. Though she has secured a job in a nearby school, she is worried that if the school authorities do not return her original certificates in time, she will not be able to join the new job.
A few Class-X teachers and even those teaching subjects like mathematics and science were not spared. Teachers allege that it was a well-planned action. With examinations, answer paper evaluation and preparation of report cards over, the management has found them dispensable.
Sheik Shabbir Ali, president of Telangana Private Teachers Forum, said that such ill treatment of teachers was commonplace in most private schools. " Nearly 80 percent of teachers are women who are subdued at home and exploited at workplace too. They don't raise their voice or report their concerns to officials. The same is happening in other 26 branches of Bhashyam School in the city but only teachers of this school decided to report the matter," he said.
TPTF has reported the matter to Venkata Narsamma, District Education Officer, Hyderabad, who has called for an inquiry into the “inhuman and illegal act”. “Once we get the report and if it is found that the management is at fault, a show-cause notice will be issued. The final action usually is derecognition of the school,” he said.