Teachers worried as govt tells them to report for duty

Lakhs of teachers working with government schools in the state are worried about their health as the Department of Primary and Secondary Education has insisted that they report for work from Monday.

A circular issued by the department says that all teachers report to work from Monday (June 8) and start the admission campaign and also identify out-of-school children by visiting households.

Following the order, the teachers have expressed concerns over their health as several schools were used as quarantine centres.

Basavaraj Gurikar, president, Karnataka State Primary School Teachers Association said, “We have even written to the Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar in this regard with a request not to put our lives at risk.”

Containment zones

The teachers are also worried about the schools which were used as quarantine centres.

“Health department has used several schools as quarantine centres in rural areas and we have no information about sanitisation of those schools post quarantine,” says Gurikar.

“There are some schools which are in containment zones and we were not informed about alternative arrangements,” says a teacher.

There are over 1.66 lakh teachers working at 43,000 government schools across the state.