7,000 Teachers Boycott Education in Rajkot: Pension Scheme Protest, Demand for Permanent Hiring, 30,000 Students Affected Today

Following the implementation of the old pension scheme by the Gujarat State Educational Association Consolidation Committee, demands regarding the recruitment of permanent employees, including teachers, along with protests by the employees of the granted schools were made today. More than 7,000 teachers from over 700 schools in Rajkot district were absent from teaching duties. Consequently, over 30,000 students in the district were deprived of education. The convenor of the Rajkot Consolidation Committee stated that if the government does not address the demands of the employees, they will boycott voting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

36 Government Employees Joined

According to the media convener of the Rajkot Consolidation Committee, Bharatsinh Parmar, more than 1,600 teachers from granted schools in Rajkot city have been included in the protest, along with 36 government employees. The demand includes implementing the old pension scheme for teachers, which had a monthly salary of Rs. 90,000 for employees. They are now receiving only Rs. 3,500. If the employees with fixed salaries from 2027 are not included in this new pension scheme, they will incur significant losses.

Teachers Reached Schools But Did Not Instruct Students

It was further announced that the recruitment of assistant teachers and physical education instructors would be halted, and demands were made to recruit permanent teachers. If the state government does not resolve the demands of the teachers in the future, they will boycott voting in the Lok Sabha elections. In primary schools of Rajkot district, 4,600 teachers and in secondary and higher secondary schools, 2,629 teachers boycotted teaching today. This means that more than 7,000 teachers from all the granted schools in Rajkot district reached schools, but did not teach students.

Officials Not Providing Information

It was also announced that while teachers would mark their attendance in schools and students’ attendance in their registers, they would not complete online attendance for students or teachers. No information will be provided to authorities in taluka or district offices, and all types of online work will be avoided. No certificates will be made for students in classrooms, no written information will be provided during the lockdown, and during the shutdown, only laptops and computers will be used in shutdown mode. Teachers opposed all these tasks, keeping aside the demands of the employees.