Teachers stage dharna, demand for GO 117 repeal

Tirupati : Government school teachers on Thursday staged a dharna at the RDO office here demanding the government to withdraw the GO 117 on the ground that it would ultimately weaken the government schools and reduce the number of teachers posts. The teachers under the banner of Federation of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Organisation (FAPTO), a confederation of various teachers unions of government schools, staged a dharna responding to their state units' call. MLC Y Sreenivasulu Reddy expressing his support to the teachers demanded to repeal the recently issued GO 117 and said it would be detrimental to the government schools and affect the interests of teachers working in government schools. He warned that the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) MLCs along with the teachers would intensify the stir if the government did not withdraw the GO immediately.

Reddy also demanded the government to continue both English and Telugu mediums in government schools and also stop reducing teachers strength under the pretext of declining student numbers. "Government Nadu-Nedu initiative is welcome as it would help rejuvenate the schools by improving facilities in a big way but it would not yield results if there are no sufficient teachers in schools,'' he averred. UTF state president and FAPTO former chairman Babu Reddy said that government assured 30,000 promotions but the assurance will not be possible as the issuing of GO 117 result in cancellation of a considerable number of teachers posts, while reiterating the demand to repeal the GO 117. He further said that the government move to conduct

TET is only to hoodwink unemployed teachers as there will be no posts and no promotions with the result of GO 117.

Leaders including APTF state general secretary Chiranjeevi, FAPTO Steering Committee member Muthyala Reddy, who presided over the protest meeting, observed that GO 117 would create many hurdles to the state educational system and cause much stress to the teachers due to increase of workload and strongly demanded the withdrawal of the GO.

In the same breath, they affirmed that the teachers would step up the statewide protest if the government did not give up its unilateral and dictatorial approach affecting schools and teachers.

Teachers' Union leaders Yuvasri Murali Venkatamuni, Murali Krishna and others also spoke.