12 hours ago
STFI elects new committee, charts nationwide protest plan
Hyderabad/Kolkata: After the three-day All India Silver Assembly of the School Teachers Federation of India (STFI), held in Kolkata on Sunday, a new national committee has been elected.
The elections, conducted on the final day, selected 87 General Council members, 45 Central Committee members and 23 Office Bearers. CN Bharti from Haryana was chosen as President, while Chava Ravi from Telangana was elected General Secretary. From Telangana, CH Durga Bhawani joined the Central Committee as the female representative, alongside Venkat and R. Sarada. They, along with all elected members, will serve for a three-year term. Chava Ravi, a veteran of the national teachers' movement, also continues his role as General Secretary of the Telangana State United Teachers Federation (TSUTF).
The TSUTF State Committee includes State President A. Venkat, Vice Presidents CH Durga Bhawani, Treasurer T. Lakshmareddy, and Secretaries Shanti Kumari, Nagamani, Raju, Ranjit Kumar, Satyanand, Mallareddy, Sridhar, Ravi Prasad Goud, Ravikumar, Simhachalam, Jnana Manjari, and Venkatappa.
During the Mahasabha, participants unanimously passed 21 resolutions aimed at improving teachers' rights, employment conditions, and educational policy. Key resolutions include: abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), repeal of the PFRDA Act, increasing the income tax exemption limit to reduce the burden on salaried employees, and scrapping the National Education Policy 2020 along with the alternative national education system.
Other resolutions called for allocating 6% of GDP and 10% of the central budget to education, granting primary teachers voting rights in MLC elections, ensuring equal pay for contract teachers, regularisation of contract, guest and outsourced teachers, restricting teachers to teaching duties only, and replacing teachers regularly in postings.
To press for these demands, the STFI announced a four-phase nationwide protest program running from September to December. The agitation will begin with dharnas at zonal centres, followed by district-level dharnas, and culminate with a major protest in the national capital at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. In a joint statement, STFI National Secretary and TSUTF leaders Chava Ravi and A. Venkat appealed to teachers across Telangana to participate in large numbers in the upcoming agitation, stressing the urgency of confronting the challenges facing the education sector and securing teachers' rights.
