Delhi: School closed after stabbing incident as teachers go on strike

The Delhi government school in west Delhi where a teacher was stabbed to death by two Class XII boys remained shut on Wednesday as teachers went on strike and students did not turn up.

The Delhi government school in west Delhi where a teacher was stabbed to death by two Class XII boys remained shut on Wednesday as teachers went on strike and students did not turn up.

Teachers stage a protest at Surajmal Stadium Metro station on Tuesday.They are demanding improved security, better compensation and snipping powers of the School Management Committee.(Sonu Mehta/HT Photo)

“Today the school is closed. We do not know till when this is going to continue,” said Badan Singh, principal of Government Boys Senior Secondary School, Sultanpuri Road, Nangloi.

A Hindi teacher, Mukesh Kumar, was killed by two students on Monday on the school premises. The two students, one of them a juvenile, were caught by Delhi Police.

The teachers of the school have refused to resume work and conduct the ongoing exams. They are staging a dharna demanding improved security, better compensation for teachers, snipping powers of the School Management Committee (SMC) and scrapping of Chunauti - a scheme to improve learning levels in schools.

“The children in the morning shift also did not come to the school today as we are on strike. As long as our demands are not fulfilled, we will not teach,” said Naresh Kumar Sharma, a teacher of the school.

Teachers in other government schools showed solidarity and sat on protest outside different examination paper distribution centres across Delhi. However, education officials said exams were conducted as per schedule in other schools on Wednesday.

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Till Monday, all schools had conducted the first summative assessment as usual but it was cancelled in most schools on Tuesday.

Education officials said that the government is willing to support the family of the deceased in every possible way and will fulfil all reasonable demands of the teachers.

“We are willing to work alongside teachers, who are our biggest strength, on these issues. We can’t let one unfortunate incident affect the future of 14 lakh children. Teachers’ safety is a huge concern for us. But demands like no exams for lakhs of children or doing away with Chunauti initiative is not linked to the incident and not reasonable,” said Saumya Gupta, Director, Directorate of Education.

Some members of the Government School Teachers Association (GSTA) are also sitting in protest outside the education department office in north Delhi. “We will continue our strike till government accepts our demands and gives us in writing,” said Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary GSTA.

On Tuesday too the teachers had blocked the roads close to school and gathered in large numbers.