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Indian Express
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Teachers' unions slam AAP govt after cops enter Bathinda classroom to detain teacher
Teachers' unions in Punjab Wednesday slammed the AAP government for a bringing 'so-called Sikhya Kranti' (education revolution), two days after a team of three policemen entered a pre-primary classroom in Bathinda to stop a teacher from reaching a protest site. The photographs of policemen sitting inside the classroom, as teacher Veerpal Kaur Sidhana taught the children, went viral on social media triggered massive outrage on what effect this police action might have caused on small children. Sidhana, who is the president of pre-primary teachers union, had said that she had no plans to participate in any protest Monday, and even then policemen stayed inside her classroom for nearly six hours until 2 pm. Detaining a woman teacher in school is the most shameful act of the AAP government, said the Democratic Teacher Front (DTF) in a statement, Wednesday. 'The reality is that they are making Punjab a police state and their so-called claims of bringing Sikhya Kranti (education revolution) have been exposed. Instead of regularising the teachers under the civil service rules, the police are beating them with batons,' said the DTF statement. DTF state president Vikram Dev said, 'Not only the teacher was kept in detention at her school for six hours, the police even reached her maternal grandparents' house where she lived a few years ago. The police accompanied her from her house to the school and were present in the school for the whole day. The AAP government is gradually moving towards creating a police state.' 'Had the Punjab government regularized the contractual teachers and kept its promise, then today there would have been no need to detain them. But the AAP government has run away from all its promises made before the 2022 Punjab assembly polls. Advertisements worth crores of rupees were put up all over Punjab under the false propaganda of making the contractual teachers permanent, but till date not a single teacher has been regularized. On the contrary, the government is now intimidating those employees who are agitating for their rights,' said Dev. DTF teacher union leader Malkit Singh Haraj said that on one hand the Punjab government was continuously shouting the slogan of 'Education Revolution' in Punjab, on the other hand, teachers were being detained by sending police to schools and police terror was being imposed on children. The leaders of the organization warned that instead of terrorizing teachers, the government should regularize them, otherwise the struggle will be intensified.
The Print
06-08-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Mann govt under fire for ‘smothering protest'—teacher under police watch, ‘detention' for dissenters
'I was not even planning to go to Ludhiana,' Sidhana told mediapersons Monday. 'The police reached my house at 6 am and detained me. Later, they accompanied me to the school where they sat next to me till 2 pm when the CM's function at Ludhiana had ended.' As pictures and videos of the teacher, Veerpal Kaur Sidhana, sitting in her classroom attending to her students with the police next to her went viral Tuesday, the opposition put the state's ruling AAP on the mat for 'smothering growing voices' of protest against the government. Chandigarh: On Monday, a pre-primary teachers' union leader in Punjab's Bathinda carried out her school duties with a police team keeping a watch on her lest she organise a protest at a government function in Ludhiana where Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was the chief guest. 'I went to sit in the classroom with only a few students so that they don't get traumatised with the police presence. There is a legal bar on police entering schools. For over two decades, I have never seen such a move undertaken by any government,' said Sidhana. She leads the Shaheed Kiranjit Kaur Pre-Primary Associate Adhyapak Union, Punjab, an organisation that is demanding regularisation of services in government schools. Leader of the opposition, senior Congressman Partap Singh Bajwa, slammed the Punjab government, saying police in classrooms was the Delhi model of school education, bringing in a revolution that terrified teachers and kids alike, referring to AAP's stint in power in the Capital. 'All this because the teacher might protest for job regularisation? And guess what—she wasn't even going!' he wrote on X. 🏫 @AAPPunjab Shiksha Kranti in Action: Welcome to the Delhi Model – now with police in classrooms! So THIS is what @ArvindKejriwal and @BhagwantMann meant by Education Revolution? 👮♀️ 3 uniformed cops sat inside a pre-primary classroom in Bathinda for 6 hours — not to protect… — Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) August 5, 2025 Another Congress leader, Pargat Singh, said on X that the tendency of the government to detain protesters was a 'dangerous, dictatorial trend'. Akali leader Parambans Singh Romana termed the action a 'shame' on the Mann government. The true face of #Badlav and #SikhyaKranti ….police enters a pre-primary classroom in a govt school in Bathinda to prevent a teacher from joining a protest against the govt ‼️@ArvindKejriwal and @BhagwantMann do you realise the effect on such young impressionable minds when… — Parambans Singh Romana (@ParambansRomana) August 5, 2025 The Punjab government has so far offered no explanation for the incident. ThePrint reached AAP spokesperson Neel Garg via message for a comment, but he did not respond. However, at the Ludhiana function where Mann launched ward and village defence committees to curb drug abuse, he criticised the earlier governments in Punjab for silencing voices of protest. 'During Akali rule, people would sit with folded hands in villages when their leaders spoke. Then in 2014, when I became MP, I told the people to question their leaders. Some MPs from Punjab even complained to me that I had made it difficult for them to get out of their cars in villages as people were asking questions,' he said. 'This is the change… I am accountable and anything can be asked from me… In Sunam, once someone dared question Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa during a public programme and he was immediately taken away and locked up.' The Bathinda school incident comes less than a week after a protester was removed by the police from the venue of a function in Sunam where Mann and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal were speaking to mark the death anniversary of martyr Udham Singh on 31 July. At the event, the man sitting among the audience had stood up and held up a banner that said '646 ETT', referring to the union of trained teachers who are demanding jobs from the government, but was immediately surrounded by the police. Also Read: 2 states, 2 dams & a political slugfest: The Nangal water sharing dispute between Punjab, Haryana Crackdown Earlier in the day on 31 July, leaders of the '646 ETT' union had claimed that many of them were put under house arrest to stop them from protesting against the government. Even some members of the extended family of martyr Udham Singh who were invited to the 31 July programme alleged that they were removed from the stage and detained for hours in a room after they informed the administration that they will demand a government job from Mann and Kejriwal. 'I was sent an invitation card for the programme to be honoured as a family member of Shaheed Udham Singh. I was made to sit on the stage initially, but when I told the SDM on duty that I will be giving a memorandum regarding the pending issue of a government job to my son, I was asked by the police to step down from the stage and taken to a room where I was made to sit for hours,' Jeet Singh, grandson of Udham Singh's sister Aas Kaur, told ThePrint Monday. 'The SDM could have just taken the memorandum himself instead of treating me like this. I was a teenager when I along with my grandmother lit Udham Singh's pyre in 1974 after his body was exhumed and brought to India from London. And this is how the government of Punjab honours us today,' he added. Jagga Singh, Jeet Singh's son who too was detained in a room after he went looking for his father, said: 'We were told that Kejriwal and Mann would meet us in the room to talk about my job. But no one came to meet us. Instead of humiliating us like this, it would have been better had the government shot us dead.' He added that he had been promised a government job by Captain Amarinder Singh when he was CM of Punjab in 2006 but no government since then has bothered to fulfil that promise. 'I work in a cloth shop and my elder brother works as a painter,' he said. When contacted, Sangrur deputy commissioner Viraj Shyamkarn Tidke told ThePrint that he had received a complaint in the matter and was inquiring into it. Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira put up a post on X detailing the ordeal of Udham Singh's relatives. 'The truth about fake revolutionaries like @BhagwantMann who exploit the name of Shaheed Udham Singhji for political purposes but disrespect his living family members,' he wrote. Khaira was also among the first to highlight the Bathinda incident. On Sunday, protesting computer teachers who tried to meet the CM in Sangrur were allegedly roughed up by the police and stopped from meeting him. On 1 August, at Arniwala village in Fazilka tehsil, almost 50 unemployed teachers were rounded up by the police from outside the venue of an event attended by Mann and Kejriwal, where they were raising slogans against the CM. The duo was on a visit to a school of eminence in Arniwala. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: Punjab is new Kingdom of Kejriwal as CM Mann plays host but Delhi AAP takes over power corridors
Hindustan Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
NAS feat: Mann credits Punjab teachers, students
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Sunday credited the teachers and students as Punjab secured first rank in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2024. Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Sunday credited the teachers and students as Punjab secured first rank in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2024. (HT File) He vowed to further make concerted efforts in the form of pro-people and development-oriented policies for emerging Punjab as a frontrunner state in every sphere of life. He was speaking during a function held under the Sikhya Kranti to mark Punjab's accomplishment in the NAS, where the state has clinched the top position, a remarkable improvement from its 29th rank in 2017. He said that the teachers are the nation builders and they had played an important role in making Punjab number one. The CM said that due to the concerted efforts of the state government, Punjab is today excelling in every sphere whether it is education or development. Urging the teachers to make the students abreast of the rich cultural heritage of the state, Mann said that it is also the need of hour to ensure that the students stay connected with their roots and excel in life. He said that the state government is laying major thrust on skill development amongst the students to make them capable of living a life with dignity and pride. He said that education, health and power had acquired a centre stage in the political agenda of the parties due to the concerted efforts of AAP and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal. The CM claimed that the previous governments never paid heed towards imparting quality education to the students. He said that the state government had embarked on an education revolution in the state which has transformed the lives of students by bridging socio-economic gaps. Mann said that the state government is according top priority to the education sector as nothing is more important than the well-being of the students. Former chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal also congratulated the Punjab government for heralding an era of education revolution in the state thereby bagging top rank in the National Achievement Survey conducted by the Government of India. Kejriwal said that eliminating drugs, imparting quality education to youth and ensuring job/ business for them are the three major thrust areas of the state government. He said, 'Those who had ruined the future of generations are now getting the punishment for their sins and these leaders who had patronised the drug trade are being put behind bars.' Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia said that quality education was a dream for the government schools as the education mafia had prevailed in the country.
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Teachers protest in Ludhiana against government's policies.
Ludhiana: Hundreds of teachers comprising teacher unions, including Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), 6635 ETT Teachers Union, 4161 Master Cadre Union, and several other affiliated groups, protested on Ferozepur Road near the office of Rajya Sabha MP and Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Sanjeev Arora on Wednesday, raising slogans against the government for not having accepted their long-standing demands and not addressing educational and employment-related concerns. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now State president of DTF Vikram Dev Singh, Sandeep Gill of 4161 Teachers Union, Gurbakhshish Singh of 899 English Teacher Union, and other unions address the teachers and spoke about several issues and problems being faced by educators. Union leaders from these unions accused the government of betraying the teaching community, stating that despite repeated assurances, policies continue to marginalize teachers and deny them their rightful dues. The so-called Sikhya Kranti by the Punjab government is nothing more than a hollow slogan, said Vikram Dev Singh from DTF highlighting the growing disillusionment among educators. They also demanded the withdrawal of termination notices issued to several master and ETT cadre teachers, who were excluded from merit lists due to technical reasons. They also raised concerns about the lack of transfer options for promoted teachers, despite serving far from home for years. The demands also included implementing court orders granting full pay scales to 5,178 teachers, and more. The unions called for the regularization of Meritorious School teachers with full benefits. Other key issues raised included restoring pending DA arrears. They also demanded that the rural and border area allowances be restored which were key to encourage teachers to teach in rural areas. As tensions rose, teachers also clashed briefly with the police during a protest march, but later agreed to conclude the rally after confirming upcoming meetings with the Education Secretary on June 13 and the Chief Minister on June 18 in Chandigarh. They issued a stern warning to the government that if their demands are not met, the struggle will intensify the stir across the state.
Hindustan Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Edu makeover plan: Meritorious school in Ludhiana yet to make the cut
While the state government has been unveiling one school project after another under its Punjab Sikhya Kranti programme since April 7, the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students in Ludhiana remains a forgotten chapter in Punjab's education story. Despite being a home to some of the brightest young minds, the school continues to suffer from neglect, particularly in its hostel and washroom infrastructure. The boys' hostel tells a tale of crumbling promises. With five blocks split between two buildings, one dating back to 1958 and the other constructed in 2014, only a single round of renovation has been carried out in over a decade. Many rooms have broken windowpanes and damaged mesh, leaving students exposed to discomfort and poor hygiene. Class 12 students said the condition is worsening with each passing day. 'The washrooms in both the old and new hostel buildings are in a terrible condition. Tiles are loose and shaky and a few rooms are just miserable,' said one of the students. Another student echoed the sentiment, expressing frustration over the state of basic facilities. The situation of washrooms in the girls' hostel is no different. 'Water leaks from the ceiling when someone uses the washroom on the floor above. It's unhygienic and disturbing,' said a girl student. The Sikhya Kranti programme, which aims to overhaul nearly 12,000 government schools through over 25,000 projects worth ₹2,000 crore, is set to conclude on May 31. Each completed project includes a plaque honouring the chief minister and the education minister, but this Meritorious School in Ludhiana stands as a glaring omission from the celebration. When asked, education minister Harjot Singh Bains said that a private group had promised ₹2 crore for the school's renovation. However, principal Satwant Kaur clarified, 'No such funds have been received so far. The hostels urgently need attention, and we've now approached the deputy commissioner, requesting ₹2 crore to carry out essential repairs and renovations.' District education officer (secondary) Dimple Madaan said, 'Under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, the funds were initially expected from a company, but there was a delay. I have now approached another company for support and we are hopeful that the funds will be received soon.' As Punjab celebrates its school makeovers, the Meritorious School in Ludhiana, built to support and shape the future of high-achieving students, waits patiently for its turn under the spotlight.
