Teachers call off strike after Bihar govt agrees to withdraw most cases

The Bihar school teachers, who were on strike since February 17, ended the same on Monday after the government agreed to withdraw punitive action taken against the

The Bihar school teachers, who were on strike since February 17, ended the same on Monday after the government agreed to withdraw punitive action taken against the former — barring cases involving violence and destruction — and adjust the strike period with holidays after relaxing its ‘no work, no pay’ policy to ensure salary payment.

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The sudden turn of events started after chief minister Nitish Kumar’s reported intervention Monday morning following requests by leaders of the teachers’ bodies to break the impasse.

Later in the day, after holding talks with Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Association president Kedar Nath Pandey and Bihar State Teachers’ Struggle Coordination Committee president Brajnandan Sharma, additional chief secretary RK Mahajan wrote to the main associations, relaxing norms and assuring talks with representatives of teachers on their demands once the situation became normal.

“In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government is working on a war footing and in this teachers are expected to cooperate and end their strike,” read Mahajan’s letter.

Soon after, the two associations announced that they are ending their strike with immediate effect and the teachers would join duty, as per the laid down provisions. They also sent written information about the same to the department of education. Meanwhile, TET/STET Qualified Teachers’ Association said that they will decide on the same on Tuesday after their meeting.

Earlier, Bihar education minister Krishna Nandan Verma had appealed to the school teachers twice to end their strike, but it did not work, as the teachers’ bodies stood firm on withdrawal of punitive action taken against teachers. On Monday, Verma said that the government had appointed all the teachers and will always take care of their needs.

Nearly 4-lakh Bihar primary and middle school teachers were on strike since February 17, while the secondary and higher secondary teachers joined it from February 25 in support of their demand of ‘equal pay for equal work’ and proper service conditions.

During the strike period, the teachers’ bodies claimed that 62 teachers lost their lives due to various ailments abetted by poor financial condition.The government had also announced ₹ 4-lakh ex-gratia payment to their families as per the provisions of death during the service period.

Earlier, Mahajan had written to all the district education and programme officers regarding salary payment to all the teachers of Class 1-12, but not for the strike period in keeping with the government’s policy of ‘no work, no pay’.