Look into teachers’ demands first: Legislators’ group urges U.P. CM

A number of people’s representatives met chief minister Yogi Adityanath urging him to consider the genuine demands of teachers before implementing their online attendance. Thousands of government primary and upper primary school teachers are on a warpath to oppose it tooth and nail.

During its meeting with the CM, a delegation of 19 MLAs and 5 MLC led by teachers’ leader MLC Babulal Tiwari apprised him of plight of teachers in the wake of introduction of the new mechanism to record their attendance digitally through Prerna app.

MLC Babulal Tiwari told the CM that it will be good on the part of the state government to first look into teachers’ demands before implementing online attendance of primary teachers.

“I have requested the CM that problem of teachers should also be considered by holding a dialogue with them. This will give government officials an insight of teachers’ concerns and how their problems can be resolved so that the resentment can be addressed. Thereafter the government order can be implemented in letter and spirit,” the MLC said.

He was accompanied by MLA Rashmi Arya, MLC Ram Narayan, MLA Jawaharlal Rajput and many others. In another development, MLC Ashutosh Sinha wrote a letter to CM Yogi saying the amount of money spent in purchasing the software for marking online attendance could have been used to build laboratories in schools.

He said this money should be spent in improving basic facilities in government schools. The MLC’s letter reads that digital/online attendance, selfie with children every morning acts as a hindrance in the teaching work. He said it is due to such mismanagement that government schools are continuously lagging behind private schools.

“Another big problem for teachers is to ask them to do non-educational work which should be stopped immediately. Teachers of the Basic Education Council do everything other than teaching,” he added. Thousands of protesting teachers say they are not against digital attendance but prior to its implementation, the state government must address their long pending demands.

Their demands include 15 casual leave, 15 half casual leave, 25 earned leave, status at par with state government employees, cashless medical facility and freedom from non-teaching work. MLC Sinha pleaded the CM that solutions should be ensured.