Primary school teachers to sport black badges; Protest over pending demands

Bengaluru: From Thursday, 1.50 lakh teachers appointed by the Karnataka government across the state will wear a black badge as a protest, announced the Karnataka Primary School Teachers Association.

Shambhulinganagouda Patil, the President of the Association was quoted by IANS as saying “The teachers have already boycotted training programmes by education department from October 4. Black badge protest is the first stage. The children will not have any effect as teachers will discharge their duties usually. Teachers will stage black badge protests till October 29.”

The teachers also plan to escalate the protest in a phased manner, he said.

In the second stage of protests, between October 30 and November 10,  the teachers would not submit department-mandated statistics of the mid-day meal scheme. The protest will then be elevated to the third stage where teachers won’t update the department, he added.

If the government still does not respond 5,000 elected members of the executive committee would stage the Bengaluru Chalo programme, he explained.

The teachers are reportedly asking for the long-pending demands of promotions, implementation of 6th pay commission recommendations, transfer policy among others.

Patil, however, clarified that this agitation would not affect the children and their curricular activities. Memorandums will be submitted by teachers only after duty hours.

(With inputs from IANS)