Schools and teachers come under the Pune zilla parishad. The PMC has not appointed any teachers and the ZP is unable to relieve its teachers and assign them to other ZP schools in need of teachers.
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MP Supriya Sule tweeted that the issue is of “serious concern” as it can “potentially hamper the education of students”. She sought a solution with the cooperation of Pune ZP and PMC.
Keshav Jadhav, secretary general of the Maharashtra State Primary Teachers Association, said the ZP has initiated the transfer process for the teachers. Their first demand, they said, in line with the 1999 government resolution, is that if schools are merged into a municipal corporation, teachers should also be assimilated.
“But the ZP cites a GR from 2019 stating that teachers belong to it and can be re-appropriated accordingly. Second, our demand is that until the PMC appoints a teacher, ZP teachers must continue for the good of the people. But the ZP is determined to fill the vacancies of teachers in the rural areas, as these schools are no longer under their responsibility,” Jadhav said.
Teacher Jagdish Ohol from one such school said the ZP office had talked about transfers to places where there was a vacancy. “Some of us may be transferred and it will affect us, and they may not try hard enough to teach. Therefore, we have to be merged with the PMC with the schools. We have worked hard to raise these children up to it. We want to continue here,” he said.
Pune ZP CEO Ayush Prasad said their mission to get all out-of-school children back to school this year has 18,000 more enrollments in rural areas.
“There is a need for teachers in rural areas and it is the duty of ZP teachers to teach them. vacancies, so we need to transfer our teachers to rural schools,” he added.
