New Delhi: Five women teachers of Sishu Shiksha Kendra attempted suicide in West Bengal over their transfer order to far-off locations from their home.
The women teachers allegedly drank a poisonous substance outside education department in Kolkata to protest against their transfer to distant places.
The incident happened in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area, where Bikash Bhavan houses the state’s education department. Some contractual teachers were protesting under the banner of Shishak Oikya Mancha against transfer to far-off places.
A disturbing video of the incident landed on social media, in which they could be seen fainting after allegedly consuming poisonous substance.
Caution: Disturbing Visuals
Teachers in #WestBengal consumed poison to protest their transfer. One of them in this video claims, “We get Rs 10K/month. How can we survive after a transfer?” pic.twitter.com/drbXnwDrID
— Anindya (@AninBanerjee) August 25, 2021
Police reached spot but issue spiralled out of control
The police team had reached the spot where these women teachers were protesting. The teachers demanded that they be allowed to meet Education Minister but they were denied permission. Police team restrained them from entering the building and tried to disperse them, following which some pushing & jostling also took place, reports said. After this, the women reportedly took out bottles and drank the poisonous substance.
The female teachers were immediately rushed to the government hospital, where the condition of two of them is reported to be serious.
Five teachers have been identified as Shikha Das, Jyotsna Tudu, Putul Jana Mondal, Chabi Das and Anima Roy.
The teachers are engaged with Education department on ad-hoc basis and get a salary of Rs 10,000 – Rs 15,000 per month. They have been agitating for sometime now, demanding permanent job & salary hike but they allege that state govt transferred them to distant location, showing its vindictive behaviour.
