Around 400 junior college teachers from across the Mumbai division staged a protest rally in Vashi, demanding a thorough investigation into alleged corruption, irregularities, and delays in the office of the Deputy Director of Education, Mumbai.
The protestors marched to the office of the Mumbai Divisional Education Board and submitted a memorandum to Chairman Rajendra Ahire, calling for immediate action. They highlighted long-standing issues such as delayed approvals, pending salaries, irregular staffing pattern approvals, and corruption in recruitment, particularly in minority institutions.
The memorandum outlined key demands including immediate clearance of all pending appointment approvals, rectification of rule-bypassed staffing pattern approvals, timely release of salary dues, and regular monthly salary disbursements on the first of every month across all districts.
Mukund Andhalkar, General Secretary of the Mumbai Divisional Junior College Teachers' Association, stated that repeated appeals to Deputy Director Sandeep Sangave had gone unanswered, leaving the association with no choice but to protest. He emphasised that despite the existence of state regulations and the School Code, they are often flouted. “Teachers’ workloads are incorrectly calculated, student strength is underreported, and qualified teachers are being declared surplus or removed from service”, he said.
Teachers also accused the administration of delaying salary fixation for senior and selection-grade staff, leading to financial mismanagement. Despite repeated complaints, no corrective action has been taken. In some cases, existing teachers are being removed from service to accommodate new appointees without proper procedure.
Recently, a multi crore recruitment scam was also uncovered, in which several education officers have been accused of forging documents and unlawfully approving the appointments of fictitious teaching and non-teaching staff in government-aided schools. The scheme was allegedly orchestrated to fraudulently divert government funds through these fabricated appointments.
The junior college teachers association expects the state government to take concrete action based on the memorandum, which will also be forwarded to the Hon’ble Education Commissioner for further directives.
