Following a massive protest by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the recently amended teachers recruitment policy, the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has cancelled the leaves of all teachers for a week. The Education Department has asked all the district magistrates to inspect all state-run schools on Thursday to check the attendance of the teachers.
The decision to amend the Bihar State School Teachers (appointment, transfer, disciplinary action and service condition) Rules, 2023, was taken in the state Cabinet meeting, which was presided by CM Nitish Kumar.
“The attendance/presence of teachers in all government schools must be 100 per cent on July 13… Strict departmental action, including suspension, should be taken against those teachers who are found absent during inspection on July 13,” said the letter by KK Pathak, the additional chief secretary (ACS-Education), on Wednesday.
“Only in emergency situations, permission (of leave) can be taken directly from the ACS only,” the department’s letter said, cancelling all leaves of the teaching staff for a week.
The BJP is holding a ‘Vidhan Sabha march’ in support of demands of teachers’ job aspirants, following which police had fired tear gas shells and used water canons to disperse the BJP workers, including senior leaders, who tried to march at the historic Gandhi maidan.
State BJP president Samrat Choudhary said that the saffron party was holding to account the government, especially Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who had promised “10 lakh jobs”.
“Everybody knows who made that rhetorical promise. Only one individual had done so. It is, now, the time to deliver,” said Choudhary.
Meanwhile, marshals evicted a couple of BJP MLAs from the Bihar Assembly on Thursday and also snatched away posters and placards from other members of the opposition party who stood inside the well waving it.
After the proceedings began at 11 AM, the House had plunged into a complete pandemonium when Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary told Leader of the Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha that he would not allow him to make any statement until members, inside the well, were asked to return to their seats.
All the BJP members had staged a walkout, protesting the eviction of fellow MLAs Jibesh Kumar and Kumar Shailendra.
Meanwhile, after BJP workers were “lathi-charged”, BJP national president JP Nadda hit out at the ruling alliance saying it was a “result of the incompetence of the state government”.
“The lathicharge on BJP workers in Patna is the result of the failure and indignation of the state government. The Grand Alliance government is attacking democracy to save the citadel of corruption. To save the person who has been chargesheeted, the Chief Minister of Bihar has even forgotten his morality,” Nadda tweeted.
