NALGONDA: Since last Monday, classes at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been disrupted due to a strike by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan contract employees. The strike has also led to a halt in the functioning of the district education department. Nalgonda district has 27 KGBVs, with 280 teachers and other staff members. With all staff, from attendants to principals, participating in the strike, students are facing significant challenges. While the Mandal Education Officer is overseeing supply of breakfast, midday meals, and dinner, no classes are being conducted, as reported by the students. The students have also raised concerns about the upcoming class 10 annual exams in three months, noting that several lessons remain incomplete.
There are about 1,100 Samagra Shiksha contract employees in Nalgonda district out of 19,300 across the state. These employees are demanding regularisation of their services as promised by the Congress during an election meeting in Hanmakonda last September. They are also demanding immediate implementation of the pay scale. The employees alleged that they have been exploited for 20 years with low wages.
Their other demands include Rs 10 lakh life insurance and Rs 10 lakh health insurance for each employee. The district president and secretary of the Samagra Shiksha contract workers’ association, Moluguri Krishna and Bommagani Raju, informed TNIE that they are on strike to press these demands.
Meanwhile, in some government schools, contract workers are serving as residential teachers, complex teachers, craft teachers, and PET teachers under the Samagra Shiksha scheme. They also work in various other roles. At the district level, they are serving as Assistant Project Officers, System Analysts, Technical Personnel, Data Entry Operators and messengers.
Due to the strike by these contract workers, the collection of details such as midday meals and student numbers has been halted. As a result, Mandal Education Officers are contacting the headmasters of the schools to gather the necessary details and send them to higher authorities. Teacher associations are urging the government to take a decision in the best interest of students. However, the Samagra Shiksha workers on strike have made it clear that they will continue their strike until the government meets their demands.
Nalgonda District Education Officer B Bikshapathi told to TNIE that, “We have taken all alternative arrangements in the schools. All mandal educational officers in the district are supervising the schools,”