1,500 teachers from Mumbai, 45,000 from Maharashtra set to lose jobs

Going by the new government resolution, there should be 70 students for each class with one teacher, for standards nine and ten of the state board. So, that would mean that around 45,000 teachers in Maharashtra and 1,500 in Mumbai might just lose their jobs.

The Right to Education Act lays down that the lower primary standards should have a maximum strength of 30 students and higher primary should have 35 students. However, for secondary schools, the government has fixed 71 as the new class strength and in effect, even if one student leaves from the division, then the two divisions would be merged as one. And a teacher from the smaller division would lose her job.This criterion alone could render 1,500 teachers in Mumbai out of work.

The Teachers Union, Mumbai teachers constituency and Kapil Patil, president of Lok Bharti and MLC , have now decided to call a meeting on June 28th, at Raje Shivaji Vidyalaya in Dadar. The teachers from across the state have decided to meet at the Dadar school, to discuss the issue.

Another Maharashtra State Teachers Union claim that they would protest at Azad Maidan on June 27. Anil Bornare, public relations officer of Maharashtra State Teachers Union, said, "The teachers will protest at Azad Maidan on June 27 and if the government does not change the criteria of having 70:1 of students-teacher ratio in a division then we would not work from July 1 as a protest. In urban schools, we want the government to keep  25 students with one teacher in each division, in rural 20 students and in adivasi 15 students."