Council dy chairman for strict law against errant teachers

Deputy Chairman of the State Legislative Council, Maritibbe Gowda, on Thursday demanded an amendment to the Karnataka Education Act to initiate stringent action against the teaching staff involving in illegal activities.

Addressing reporters here, Gowda was reacting to a question on the involvement of teachers in large numbers in the leakage of the second PU chemistry question paper.

Quoting Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar, who in a recent statement rued that there was no “effective law to deal with teachers according to the existing Act,” Gowda said the Act should therefore be amended and new laws introduced to take severe action in such cases.

On the ongoing strike of PU lecturers, who have boycotted the evaluation of answer sheets, Gowda charged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with failing to keep his words on sorting out the pay disparity as per the report submitted by the then principal secretary for education G Kumar Nayak.

Reacting to a query, he denied the JD(S), to which he belongs, was politicising the issue, eyeing the forthcoming elections to the Council from the South Graduates constituency. He said as a principal Opposition party, the BJP was also fighting for the cause of teachers and lecturers.