Bihar: Striking Contractual Teachers Approach NHRC Following No Response from President, PM

Patna: Thousands of striking contractual school teachers in Bihar are disappointed with no response from President and Prime Minister even after 10 days have passed since they requested for an intervention in view of the increased hardships under the lockdown. Now, they have approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking a probe into the death of 62 teachers during the strike period.

"We are really upset as there is no reply from the office of the President of India Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.We had written to both requesting to intervene to help over 4 lakh striking teachers and their families. But so far we have not received any response. This shows how helpless are school teachers," Manoj Kumar, a leader of Bihar Rajya Shikshak Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti said on Tuesday.

Bihar Secondary School Teachers’ Association (BSSTA) General Secretary Shatrughan Prasad Singh said that NHRC should look into their demand of an inquiry into the deaths of teachers during the strike period in over two months. "We have requested NHRC that accountability for the death of teachers should be fixed on the erring official because most of the teachers died due to financial crunch as the government has not paid their salaries for the months of February and March," he said.

Singh, who is a former MP from the Communist Party of India, said the association in its letter urged the NHRC to direct the state government to take proper steps including holding a discussion or dialogue with teacher's bodies for resolving the issue and prevent more deaths amid an unprecedented health crisis. "NHRC should issue a direction to Bihar government for adequate compensation to the kin of teachers who have died during strike period,” he added.

Most of the striking teachers who died were reportedly under stress owing to the non-payment of their salaries and died of heart attack, brain haemorrhage and lack of proper treatment due to financial crunch.

Singh had earlier alleged that despite so many deaths, the government is behaving as if nothing has happened. “How many more lives does it want to take before it acts? Hundreds of striking teachers are not well and they are suffering from different chronic diseases as well as stress, as the government has left them in a lurch.”

Also read: Bihar Contractual Teachers’ Body Claims ‘55 Dead Due to Non-Payment of Salaries’

Meanwhile, Samiti leader Manoj on Tuesday claimed that till date 64 striking teachers, locally known as ‘Niyojit Shikshak’, have lost their lives, mostly during the lockdown. He further alleged that more striking teachers will die in the coming days as the government has “ignored the hardships” of the striking teachers. "Most of us do not have enough money to survive; we are struggling to buy essential food items and medicines and take care of our families. This has also led to aggravation of stress and other health issues among thousands of us,” he said.

Brajnandan Sharma, convener of the Samiti, said that striking teachers are ready for discussion or dialogue with the government but Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is not showing any inclination for this. "It is nothing but stubbornness of the government to ignore striking teachers, who are peacefully agitating since February.”

Sharma had earlier told NewsClick that striking teachers and their families have been struggling without their salaries. But after the imposition of lockdown, it has become even a bigger challenge. Majority of them will be pushed to starvation or hunger-like situation if not paid salary on humanitarian grounds to survive during lockdown.

Last week R K Mahajan, additional chief secretary of the Education Department, had refuted the allegations levelled by the striking teachers’ association, calling them “baseless”. Mahajan also downplayed the entire issue of the school teachers' death during the strike, claiming that they have died due to illnesses and it has nothing to do with the strike.

The contractual school teachers have been on the indefinite strike since February 17, the day class X examination by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) started. The strike has reportedly badly affected teaching in schools. The strike call has been given by the Bihar Rajya Shikshak Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti, a joint platform of 26 school teachers’ associations.

Earlier this month, the state government had decided to pay salary only for the month of January to the striking teachers. A senior official of the Education Department said that the government will not pay salaries to the striking teachers for the strike period. Last month, Verma had warned the teachers that they would be marked absent and their salary would be deducted on the ‘no work no pay’ principle.