Keeping a ‘hawk-eye’ on the school teachers in Bihar has led to acute resentments against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from five lakh Government schoolteachers and their families, and a majority of them backed by several associations of teachers, have decided to ‘boycott’ the voting in Lok Sabha polls.
The latest to add fuel is while Bihar Government has announced holidays for children due to prevailing heat conditions, it is mandatory for the teachers to be present for two hours in the morning in the school premises and they have to share their GPS location to the administration.
“Our choice is BJP due to Modi (PM Narendra Modi) but the candidate here is from the JDU. We have grievances against Nitish Kumar and have decided to boycott voting. Those keeping with moral of democracy may vote NOTA but we shall never vote for Teer (arrow which is the JDU symbol),” said Prakash Thakur, a primary schoolteacher in Bamangaon of Supaul district.
His another companion in the Sakri village Madhubani , Ashish Jha, rued the fact the way “Nitish Kumar has completely attacked on the democratic norms of teachers”.
“Strictness is acceptable but when you attempt to be vigilant then it’s a problem. There has been protest for months on the unnecessary measures by the State Education Department on more than five lakh strength of primary and secondary school teachers but Nitish kept ignoring and thus even any political party who has tied with JDU will have to bear the brunt,” Jha said.
In fact, several teachers’ associations in Bihar have been up in arms against State education department against the education department’s several gag order against teachers.
CPI MLC Sanjay Kumar Singh, who is also general secretary of the Federation of University Teachers of Bihar (FUTAB), is leading one of the protest fronts against the education department’s additional chief secretary KK Pathak.
The most problematic area which the teachers claimed they have been affected is the separate holiday calendars for Urdu and Hindu schools for the first time and also removing several Hindu festivals from the holiday list. Pathak led department has also issued showcause notice against over 150 teachers for airing their views and expressing their concerns on social media against the Government orders.
The education department, through district education officers, has asked teachers to stay away from any association and not to post their non academic views or concerns.
And not very long ago until the JDU alliance partners BJP too launched its attack targeting K.K. Pathak for his autocratic behaviour soon after the new NDA regime took over.
The senior IAS officer KK Pathak is known for several controversies. He has become a flashpoint now between the two allies, as well as the opposition RJD, over a video that went viral last month which he purportedly uses foul language against teachers and state service officers.
Nitish defended Pathak by saying that “he is an honest officer and there is no question of removing him from his post”.
