Telangana school teachers swarm Hyderabad in stir against transfers

Union leaders term Secretariat Muttadi a success despite arrests; demand the TRS government to scrap ‘unfair’ GO 317

Police detain government schoolteachers as they stage a rasta roko near the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Dec 28, 2021. (Photo| EPS, R V K Rao)

HYDERABAD: A large number of teachers were taken into custody for organising ‘Secretariat Muttadi’ (Secretariat siege) on Tuesday to protest against alleged irregularities in transfers. 

The teachers alleged that their seniority and local status were not taken into consideration while deciding on transfers. As the Upadhya Sanghala Porata Committee (USPC) called for a Secretariat Siege on Tuesday, the police arrested teachers union leaders in districts on Monday night. Traffic restrictions were imposed on all roads leading to the Secretariat on Tuesday. However, a large number of teachers from districts came to the Telugu Talli flyover, GHMC office area and other places in phases between 11 am to 3 pm. Police promptly took them into custody. 

Teachers demanded amendments to GO 317, which was basically rendering them non-locals in their native district. “When a teacher is transferred from Khammam to Bhadrachalam as per the new zonal system, children of the teacher would become non-locals in Bhadrachalam,” a teacher said. 

Another teacher said that she had studied in Rangareddy and was brought up there, but she was asked to go to Vikarabad. “The local status of the teachers should be protected,” teachers demanded. “We are becoming non-locals in our native districts. GO 317 ought to be amended and the government should protect our local status,” they said. 

Matter of spouses

They also demanded that the issue of spouses be considered in transfers. “The Secretariat Siege is a grand success and the teachers succeeded in highlighting their problems,” USPC steering committee leaders claimed K Jangaiah, Chava Ravi (TSUTF), M Srinivasulu (TPTF) claimed. 

M Raghu Sankar Reddy, T Linga Reddy (DTF), U Pochaiah (STF), N Yadagiri (BTF), S Harikrishna (TTA), B Kondaiah, S Mahesh (MASTF), Chinta Ramesh, T Vijaya Sagar, Y Vijaya Kumar and others were part of the agitation. 

If the government sends junior teachers, without considering their local status, to various districts, then local youths of those districts would not get employment, they argued.