Spare us of attending schools, colleges, teachers urge govt

PATNA With the Covid-19 surge unabated in Bihar and situation expected to worsen in the coming weeks, teachers’ bodies have urged the state government and the Raj Bhawan to free them from the binding of one-third attendance so that all could remain indoors to break the fatal chain

PATNA

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With the Covid-19 surge unabated in Bihar and situation expected to worsen in the coming weeks, teachers’ bodies have urged the state government and the Raj Bhawan to free them from the binding of one-third attendance so that all could remain indoors to break the fatal chain.

Bihar Legislative Council member and president of the Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Association, Kedar Nath Pandey, has written to education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary to look into the matter in view of practical difficulties, viz over 15% teachers staying at least 50-150 kms from the school in villages, 35% women appointed as teachers and lack of any hostel or stay facilities in schools.

“Over two dozen school teachers have also died due to Covid-19 and it is hard to identify who is infected and who is not due to difficulty in getting RTPCR tests done and if that is somehow managed, one has to endlessly wait for reports. In this situation, asking teachers to attend school is fraught with risk and against the government’s efforts to break the chain. Many teachers have reported symptoms,” Pandey wrote.

The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTAB) has also written to the Raj Bhawan to avoid calling teachers to the colleges and universities every day without ensuring proper sanitization and cleanliness at a time when Covid-19 situation in the state was fast spiraling out of control.

“If the services or teachers are meaningfully required, there is no issue in calling them daily or alternate day. When exams and admissions have been postponed and there are reports of over a dozen college teachers, including young ones, dying due to Covid in the last couple of weeks , there is no point exposing them to further risk when the government hospitals are themselves gasping for breath and basic infrastructure is crumbling,” FUTAB working president KB Sinha and general secretary Sanjay Kumar, MLC, wrote to the principal secretary to the Chancellor of Universities.

The association said the list of teachers who succumbed to Covid-19 include Iqbal Ahmad and Dilip Choudhary of Veer Kuer Singh University (Ara), Parvez Ahmad, CL Khatri and Baliram Kumar of Pataliputra University (Patna), Patna University teacher Govind Kumar , Prof Ashish and Prof Akhilesh of TM Bhagalpur University.

The FUTAB letter is in response to the letter from the department of education’s principal secretary Sanjay Kumar to all the district magistrates and district education officers, which said all associate professors, professors and officers equivalent or above the rank will be present daily, while one-third of those in the rank of assistant professor or below will attend alternatively. In schools also, 33% teachers and employees have been asked to be present, while the headmaster and in-charge headmaster of middle, secondary and higher secondary schools will be present every day.

Patna University vice-chancellor Girish Kumar Choudhary is himself suffering from Covid-19 and has proceeded on medical leave. Raj Bhawan has given additional charge of VC to Pro-VC Prof Ajay Kumar Singh to discharge the routine work till CHoudhary recovers.

“In the universities and colleges, the government should first try to ensure sanitization before issuing orders. When even sweepers are not available, one can well imagine the chances of adhering to Covid safety guidelines,” the FUTAB letter said, urging the Chancellor’s office to intervene in the matter.