Teacher suspended for criticising government policy

JAMMU: A teacher in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir has been suspended from duty for “disseminating confidential information and criticising government policies”, officials said on Saturday.

The action against primary school teacher Fiaz Ahmed came after a video went viral on social media earlier this week showing the dilapidated condition of his remote government middle school, Draman, in Bhatyas district.

The teacher talks about the shabby accommodation, the imminent danger to the lives of the underage students and the lack of staff to supervise eight classes.

Confirming the suspension of the teacher, Chief Education Officer (Doda) Prakash Lal Thappa said that the authority had sought a detailed project report (DPR) from the department concerned for repairing the school.

“The teacher was suspended on Friday and at the same time a DPR was applied to the building department for immediate repair of the school building,” said Thappa.
In his suspension order issued on Friday, he said the department had taken the viral video very seriously as the teacher in question had not resisted the entry of the unauthorised person into the premises but had instead disseminated confidential information and criticised government policies like ‘Digital India’, school education policies and the working of higher authorities in violation of service guidelines.

The teacher was asked on June 6 to explain his position within two days. His response was found to be “unsatisfactory” and “unconvincing,” the order said.

Therefore, the teacher is suspended with immediate effect until the matter is resolved and will remain assigned to the Higher Secondary School Chanti during this period.

The order said a two-member committee comprising the principals of Higher Secondary School (Girls) Thathri and Sartingal would conduct a thorough investigation into the alleged “violation of government directions” by the suspended teacher and submit a report with specific recommendations to the Board within 21 days.

Local residents said the school has over 100 students enrolled and four teachers, one of whom has been retired for four years.
The school was upgraded to a middle school over a decade ago and some classrooms were added, but these were never completed. This prompted the school management to accommodate the children in the two rooms of the old building, which have also not been repaired for a long time and pose a danger to the lives of the students, it said.

The teacher said they had raised the issue several times with the district school board.
He said one of the teachers was absent from school, another of the three was in charge of accounting and only two of them attended classes.