Nearly 600 Teaching and Non-teaching Staff in Mumbai Raise Voice Against Centre’s New Education Policy

The main demand of the teachers is that the government repeal the three new farm and labour laws and also withdraw NEP.

New Delhi: Nearly 600 teaching and non-teaching staff members from various teachers’ groups of Maharashtra participated in the farmers march on Monday, during which, the teacher groups also staged a protest against the implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP). The teachers group joined the farmers to show support to them and the labour unions fighting against the new farm laws.

The teachers unions also issued a joint statement which stated, “The All India Organisation of Teachers and non-teaching employees of education institutes in the country have expressed their solidarity with this struggle. A nation-wide protest of all trade unions was called for, starting January 23, and we too, joined the struggle on Monday.” The major teacher unions participating in the protest were Shikshak Bharti, Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisation (MFUCTO) Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU), among others, under the common umbrella of Joint Platform of Teachers.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the teachers also highlighted how NEP violates the constitutional mandates of the reservation policy and Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act in their joint statement. “The new Act will break the present structure of education and could also result in the closure of thousands of schools and colleges. Not only will this lead to high drop-out rates, but it’ll also push more teachers and non-teaching staff in ad-hoc and contractual appointments,” said a Platform of Teachers spokesperson.

The teachers mainly demanded that the government repeal the three new farm and labour laws and also withdraw NEP. “The fact that the Governor has refused to give us time to discuss such important matters is being highly criticised by all unions,” said a teacher.