Members of the Federation of Higher Secondary School
Headmasters and Post Graduate Teachers' Association
staging a road blockade in Krishnagiri on Saturday.

KRISHNAGIRI/DHARMAPURI: Over 300 teachers, including headmasters, were arrested and released in the evening when they resorted to road blockade in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts on Saturday.

In Krishnagiri, 167 headmasters and post-graduate teachers, including 50 women, resorted to block the Road in front of the Revenue Divisional Office on Old Bangalore Road in Krishnagiri.

The State-in charge for the Joint Action Committee for the agitation, R. Radhakrishnan, presided in the presence of D. Manoharan, district convener. They were all taken to a marriage hall near Pazhayapet and let off in the evening.

In Dharmapuri, 143 headmasters and post-graduate teachers were arrested and let off in the evening.

The district secretary, Post-Graduate Teachers Association, Ponmudy, presided over the agitation on Dharmapuri-Salem Main Road, near Ganesh Theatre, in Dharmapuri. All arrested were taken to the Indian Medical Association Hall and released in the evening.

The Federation of Higher Secondary School Headmasters and Post-Graduate Teachers' Association had announced state-wide demonstrations in front of the District Collectorate on February 26 and 27 to draw the attention of the government for an exclusive directorate for higher secondary education.

14-point charter

of demand

The Federation, consisting of 23,000 post-graduate teachers and 4,000 headmasters, would go on an indefinite strike from February 28 if the Government failed to fulfil its 14-point charter of demands.

The headmasters' association and two postgraduate teachers' associations claimed that there was a lapse in the Government provision that allowed those with lower academic qualification to become their administrative heads as District Educational Officers. A separate directorate would be a solution as the administrative postings would become an exclusive preserve of those with a minimum qualification of post-graduation. They also demanded announcement of recommendations by the one-member committee formed to study pitfalls in the GO 720; remuneration on a par with the Central Government employees; withdrawal of disciplinary action on heads and teachers of Adi Dravida schools; increment for those with over 30 years in government-aided schools; withdrawal of contributory pension scheme and service-regularisation of PG teachers appointed on contract basis in 1989 etc.