Representative image of suspension.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: The suspension of a headmaster of Government Lower Primary School in a Belagavi village for staging protest seeking better facilities at his institution, has drawn flak from many quarters.
The headmaster, Veeranna Madiwalar, was subsequently suspended by the Department of School Education and Literacy.
Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra dubbed the government’s decision to suspend Veeranna Madiwalar “cruel” and demanded that he be reinstated immediately.
Vijayendra pointed out that the suspended headmaster had to resort to a silent protest since all his previous efforts to get the infrastructure upgraded at his school had been to no avail.
The Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka has written to both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Minister for School Education and
Literacy Madhu Bangarappa, urging them to turn the government’s attention to problems the headmaster had highlighted.
“The government must encourage those raising their voice on behalf of the students,” the association said.
General Secretary of the Karnataka State Primary Teachers’ Association Chandrashekar Nugli said that he had already spoken to both the Belagavi Deputy Director of the Department of School Education, and the Block Education Officer concerned.
“His demands were legal, and he was fighting for the rights of the children. We will press for the revocation of Madiwalar’s suspension,” Nugli added.
Incidentally, this is not Madiwalar’s first act of remonstrance that has invited the department’s ire. In 2022, a two-line poem he had composed criticising the
government’s proposal to merge schools had resulted in Madiwalar being served a notice.