Private school teachers confront Education Minister Suresh Kumar, sell him noodles

Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar was on Saturday caught off guard by private school teachers who asked him to buy homemade noodles.

The teachers have not been paid their salaries since the beginning of the lockdown period and survived on doing several odd jobs, including noodle-making. They decided to observe Teachers’ Day as a black day and protested against the state government for failing to safeguard their interests.

When Kumar arrived at the Shikshakara Sadana on KG Road to take part in the Teachers' Day celebrations, the protesting teachers wished him on the occasion and asked him to buy homemade noodles to support their livelihood.

A protesting teacher told DH, “Noodle-making helped us to survive for a few months. The school management did not pay our salaries and the government, too, did not come to our rescue.”

“A few (teachers) even made pickle, pappad, and condiments to survive in the last five to six months. So, we confronted the minister with the reality by attempting to sell noodles,” the teacher added.

Problems will be solved by the evening: Minister

Addressing the teachers, the minister assured that he would solve their issues by the evening.

Accordingly, the state government issued orders to all the DDPIs, BEOs, and schools to complete the students' admission process by September 30.

The order also asked schools not to charge the students more than what was paid last year.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers and management representatives of private schools led by the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) staged protests across the state asking for the state government’s intervention to safeguard the interests of private teachers.

They also asked the government to release the pending dues to the schools under the RTE Act.