Author: Mita Mukherjee
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: October 22, 2002
For 25 years of Left rule, Christian
missionary schools here had held out against the march of the CPM to which
one educational institution after another had fallen. No more.
Over the past few months, nearly
100 teachers working in the 69 Anglo-Indian schools, mainly in Calcutta,
have joined the CPM-controlled All Bengal Teachers' Association (ABTA).
So far, abiding by the strict orders
of the school authorities, nearly 2,000 teachers of these institutions
have been grouped under a single apolitical organisation, the Association
of Teachers of Anglo-Indian Schools.
Ismail Nehal, the association president
and a senior teacher at St James School, admitted that many teachers have
become members of the ABTA. Not only that, there is a strong demand from
a large section of the association's members to affiliate with a political
group.
"In the last three or four months,
some teachers of our association have joined the ABTA and the trend is
unfortunately increasing," Nehal said.
Prasanta Dhar, an ABTA leader, said
he expected more teachers from Anglo-Indian schools to come over because
of unhappiness over allegedly low basic salary.
The ABTA has organised a string
of meetings to discuss ways to pressure Anglo-Indian schools to concede
pending financial and other demands.
"We have already met Kanti Biswas,
the school education minister, and requested him to take action against
the schools for depriving teachers. We will hold a meeting immediately
once the schools reopen after the puja vacation where we will discuss the
problems in Anglo-Indian schools," he said.
ABTA sources said one reason for
the teachers joining their association was the experience during a July
rally. Managements of some Anglo-Indian schools refused permission to teachers
when they requested to be allowed to stay away from class that day so that
they could participate in the rally organised by the apolitical association.
"Managements of some schools have
been exploiting teachers for a long time but we find that the association,
without attachment to any political group, is unable to do anything. We
had no option but to join the ABTA," said a teacher preferring anonymity.
