Mumbai: Legislators stage agitation at Vidhan Bhavan to raise teachers’ demands

The Maharashtra Legislative Council legislators representing Teachers’ constituencies on Monday staged a dharna at the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the premises of Vidhan Bhavan to press the long pending demands of the teachers.

The Vidhan Bhavan secretariat urged the agitating legislators to vacate the place but they were adamant. The legislators suspended their agitation late in the evening after a discussion with the School Education secretary Ranjit Singh Deol.

It was also decided that the School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar will hold a meeting with these legislators on Tuesday morning. 

Their demands included the implementation of 100% government grant to school divisions and classes since 2012-13, allocation of funds to the undeclared primary, secondary and higher secondary schools, and 100 per cent grant to the schools that run with a partial grant. Besides, they demanded that the government should provide service protection to teachers from grant and non grant schools.

The legislators also demanded the implementation of the old pension scheme to the teachers who were recruited before 2005 and the grant for increased posts. 

The Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe, who spoke with the agitating legislators, told the Free Press Journal, ‘’I have called a meeting with these legislators in the last week of October or early November in the presence of secretaries from the departments of finance and school education. The key issue is the final signature of the finance minister for the additional allocation of funds to the school education department that will be needed to resolve the issues raised by the legislators.’’ She further said that the meeting will also discuss the issue of closure of school classes for the attendance of less than 20 students.