Bihar: Teachers fume after edu dept’s latest order, MLC threatens privilege motion

The matter escalated after the education department issued orders on Wednesday to stop the salary and pension of Federation of University Teachers’ Association of Bihar (FUTAB) working president Kanhaiya Bahadur and general secretary Sanjay Kumar, also an MLC (member of the Legislative Council), for their remarks against the order that college and university teachers should also mandatorily take five classes each day and strike off names of students remaining absent for more than three days.

Bihar education department’s “gag” order issued Tuesday, warning teachers of schools and colleges of action for ventilating their grievances against office orders in public, has drawn sharp reactions from teachers’ bodies, which have described it as an “affront to their democratic rights and freedom of expression”.

K K Pathak, additional chief secretary, department of education, Bihar. (HT file)

The matter escalated after the education department issued orders on Wednesday to stop the salary and pension of Federation of University Teachers’ Association of Bihar (FUTAB) working president Kanhaiya Bahadur and general secretary Sanjay Kumar, also an MLC (member of the Legislative Council), for their remarks against the order that college and university teachers should also mandatorily take five classes each day and strike off names of students remaining absent for more than three days.

Kumar said he would serve a privilege notice against the move to stop his pension, as he is a teachers’ representative in the Legislative Council and the order to stop his pension was issued without ascertaining facts.

He also threatened to sit on dharna in front of CM’s residence against this.

Kumar’s party, the CPI, extends support to the Grand Alliance (GA) government headed by Nitish Kumar.

“The actions of K K Pathak (the additional chief secretary who heads the education department) clearly indicate he has lost mental balance. The universities are governed by separate Acts and University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and relevant amendments carried out from time to time. These clearly lay out how many classes need to be held every day and by whom. The government first needs to look within and ask itself if it has been able to provide required infrastructure and facilities in schools and colleges,” the MLC said, inding support from CPI-ML MLA Sandip Saurav and BJP MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav.

The education department has made it clear it does not recognise any association and the teachers should refrain from joining them.

“Giving statements in newspapers and posting on social media criticising policies and expressing resentment is a hurdle in creating academic atmosphere. No teacher can be a member of any association. Creating an association or joining it will be seen as misconduct and invite strict disciplinary action,” says a letter from secondary education director Kanhaiya Prasad Srivastava, which has been sent to all district education officers.

Later, higher education director Rekha Kumari took exception to FUTAB remarks against the department’s orders and wrote to registrars of all the state universities. “Opposing policies of the department is unprofessional conduct and opposition to efforts to improve higher education. Therefore, initiate stricter action against the two FUTAB leaders after serving by them show cause and stop their salary and pension till further orders,”’she wrote.

She also wrote separately to all vice chancellors regarding general discipline to be followed by teachers and staff of the state universities, which have hundreds of full-time politicians, including ministers, legislators and party chiefs.

However, the universities concerned, like BRA Bihar Universiry (Muzaffarpur) and VKS University (Ara), have not served notices to the two FUTAB leaders so far.

“As per provisions in University, a student can acquire his degree in three attempts. So it is not mandatory for him/ her to have stipulated 75% attendance in the first attempt. There could be any reason attendance shortage — illness, family issues, mental issues or any other. So , cancellation of admission after three days of absence is unheard of even in central universities. In a democracy, an officer should not try to intimidate anyone. The university is a place for free exchange of views. I am seeking legal opinion as this is a clear attempt to malign my image,” said FUTAB president Kanhaiya Bahadur.

All India Federation of University Teachers’ Association (AIFUCTO) has also written to the Governor, who is the Chancellor of state universities, and chief minister Nitish Kumar regarding the “repressive and undemocratic tactics of the higher education department against the leaders of associations”.

“We seek your intervention in the matter and withdrawal of such orders,” wrote AIFUCTO general secretary professor Arun Kumar.

In October last year, the department of education’s stand-off with the Chancellor’s secretariat had ended after Nitish Kumar called on Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at the Raj Bhawan. The department of education had to withdraw all its advertisements it had separately issued for the appointment of vice chancellors, the first time ever in the state, while the last date for submitting applications to the earlier advertisement issued by the Chancellor’s secretariat was drawing close. It created a piquant situation. Due to the controversy, the process for delayed and the appointment of VCs and Pro-VCs is still awaited.

The latest gag order has also created unease among school teachers, as the department has started serving show cause notices to them even for a comment on social media posts. “You liked a post and commented it was the arbitrariness of the officials. This is indiscipline. Send your reply to the show cause within 24 hours, failing which disciplinary action would be recommended against you to the competent authority,” said the show cause served to a school teacher, Md Ayaaz Murtaza, by Patna district education officer Amit Kumar.

Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar said strange things were happening in Bihar as Nitish Kumar had lost control. “Snatching democratic rights of teachers is unheard of. If students protest against BPSC, they are threatened. If teachers speak up, they are intimidated. It is worse than emergency. The education department is creating more controversies than actually delivering anything positive. It’s causing one embarrassment after another for the government. Education minister is sidelined,” he said.