Holiday relief for teachers on training as plot thickens over ‘IPRD’ letter

Amid growing disquiet in various quarters, Bihar’s education department on Tuesday issued a letter saying that the residential training for government school teachers would not take place on account of Eid on April 11 and on April 17 (Ramnavmi), amending its earlier directive and also clearing the confusion precipitated the previous day by a letter purportedly issued by the information and public relations department (IPRD) and later disowned.
The letter issued on Tuesday by the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT), which works under the education department, says the training would not take place of account of Eid on April 11 and April 17 (Ramnavmi).
On Monday evening, a communique sent to media persons by the IPRD had said that chief minister Nitish Kumar had intervened to spare the teachers from training during important festivals like Ramnavmi and Eid. “The CM has taken cognizance of the unease due to training of teachers scheduled at the training institutions during Ramnavmi and Eid. Therefore, there will be holiday on April 10-11 for Eid and April 17 for Ramnavmi. There is no other change in the schedule for training,” it said, citing a communique from the education department.
When asked for a response, IPRD director Amit Kumar said the note from the education department had not been issued by his department. When he was sent the screenshot of the note sent on the department’s official social media group of media persons on Monday by one of the group administrators and deleted today, Kumar replied that he had nothing more to say. “I know it was not issued by the IPRD. I will look into the screenshot. The education department has issued a fresh communique today and that is official,” he said.
When secondary education director Kanhaiya Prasad Srivastava was asked about the “communique” on Monday evening, he said he had no information regarding it and abruptly disconnected the phone. He did not respond to calls later.
On Tuesday, the director issued a separate communique. “The viral note has not been issued by the education department. It is misleading. There has been no change in the training schedule,” said the communique, without elaborating who was playing the mischief with the department.
Later in the day, SCERT issued another letter, saying that the training would not take place on account of Eid on April 11 and on April 17 (Ramnavmi).
SCERT has been organising residential training programmes for teachers. The training is being organised at 78 centres across the state.
“This is strange that in the education department, the left hand does not know what the right is doing. A letter from the government being denied by the department and then again another wing issuing a revised letter indicates that all is not well. A department official cannot be above the CM or the minister concerned,” said Bihar secondary teachers’ association president Shatrughan Prasad Singh.
Several political leaders had taken exception to the training during Ramnavmi and Eid and also written to the CM, as it had happened during Navratri last year.
This isn’t the first time that such confusion has arisen over the education department’s communications.
On February 28, a note on revised school timings issued in keeping with CM Kumar’s announcement on the floor of the House was termed forged by the same director after it became viral, though no case was lodged against those behind it.
Last year too, there was storm over the timing of school teachers’ residential training from October 16-21, which coincided with 10-day Durga Puja starting October 15 during which many teachers were on fast. The training was eventually cancelled.
Before that, the education department triggered a row with its decision to cut down school holidays and open the school on Raksha Bandhan. Later, the government withdrew the August 29 holiday order after the intervention of CM Kumar.
Last month, Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had also directed the chief secretary to shift the date of examinations in the government schools scheduled on March 29 to any other date, as it was Good Friday.
The decision to keep schools open for teachers during summer vacation has also come under attack from the political leaders, including those from the ruling dispensation.
JD(U) MLC Sanjeev Singh said, “Festivals are an important part of education and they teach about the tradition and culture. We were always confident that the CM would intervene. The education department should look into such matters more sensitively and not wait for the CM to intervene to resolve unnecessary controversies.”