Row intensifies after 5 teachers consume poison during protest

KOLKATA: The row over the transfer of teachers in West Bengal intensified on Wednesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacking the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) a day after five teachers consumed poison at a protest in Kolkata.

On Tuesday, five contractual teachers consumed pesticide during a protest against transfers outside the state education department headquarters . A spokesperson of the teachers’ forum said three of the five teachers were being treated at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital here and two others at NRS Medical College and Hospital.

“Transfer orders, that had asked the five teachers working on contract for SSKS ( Shishu Shiksha Kendras ) and Madhyamik Siksha Kendras (MSK) to report for duty in districts hundreds of miles away from their homes, led to the mass suicide bid,” said Maidul Islam, general secretary of the Paschimbanga Sikshak Aikya Mukta Mancha.

The incident has triggered a slugfest between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“During the Left Front regime, teaching assistants at SSKS and MSKS used to get a token honorarium. Women get maternity leave and all are entitled to healthcare benefits and 18 casual leaves a year. Those who are agitating even after getting all these must be BJP cadres,” the education minister Bratya Basu tweeted on Wednesday afternoon.

BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu, on the other hand, said, “The education minister should spend more time meeting teachers and hearing out their problems. He should resign after what has happened,” said Basu.