Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The School Education Department has withdrawn from directly managing financial assistance for families of deceased teachers and has asked an unrecognised teachers' organisation for implementing the welfare initiative.
The move has sparked opposition from recognised teachers' associations, which have questioned the basis on which a non-recognised body has been entrusted with a responsibility involving financial transactions and welfare support.
Director of the Directorate of Public Instruction KK Dwivedi has issued instructions in this regard.
Earlier, the School Education Department ran Employee Welfare Fund Scheme under which teachers contributed a fixed amount that was later provided as financial assistance to the families of deceased teachers.
However, the scheme was discontinued following allegations of bias in its implementation.
To revive the scheme, a meeting was held the DPI on May 20, where representatives of both recognised and unrecognised teachers' organisations were invited.
The meeting was later postponed. Subsequently, the responsibility for expanding and implementing the welfare scheme was effectively entrusted to the Primary, Middle and Higher Secondary Teachers' Union (PMUMS), Madhya Pradesh, an unrecognised employee organisation.
Madhya Pradesh Teachers' Association president Kshatravir Singh Rathore said members were against handing over such responsibility to an unrecognised organisation. He said this would only encourage financial irregularities.
Under the PMUMS model, teachers become members of the organisation. When a member passes away, alerts are issued to other members seeking contributions.
The collected amount is transferred directly to the bank account of the deceased teacher's family.
