A school teacher in Bihar’s Katihar district was suspended after his video went viral on social media recently in which he was seen selling gunny bags used to supply mid-day meals (MDM) in schools. The Bihar Primary School Teachers Association (BPSTA) has condemned the suspension calling it “too stringent a measure”.
Mohd. Tamijuddin, posted at the Government Primary School, Kantadih in Katihar district, was seen selling empty and torn gunny bags at a market crossroad urging people to buy “strong gunny bags of Bihar government for ₹10 each”.
The video is said to have gone viral on social media a few days back. Mohd. Tamijuddin was suspended on August 8 and departmental proceedings were initiated against him. Later, he appealed to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to revoke his suspension as he was only “obeying government’s order”.
“I tried to sell used gunny bags first in the school. But no takers turned up there as the government has fixed the price of ₹10 for each bag. So I decided to sell them in the market just to obey the order of the department. Many of the bags, though, were damaged by flood waters.”
‘Too stringent a measure’
BPSTA president Brajnandan Sharma has called the without an enquiry as “too stringent a measure”. “Teachers of the State resent his suspension as every individual has different level of understanding and perspective on a particular issue,” he said.
On July 22, the director of the MDM scheme had directed the district programme officers to sell the bags while maintaining a separate account in a prescribed format.
Several members of civil society in Patna have criticised the directive and urged the government to recall it. “Such directives are against the dignity of school teachers and it should be revoked as soon as possible,” said veteran RTI activist Shiv Prakash Rai.
A parent of a school student and lawyer by profession, Amit Sinha said “school teachers first be not involved in the scheme in any way or other and such order of suspension against the school teacher in Katihar is resented”.
