After uproar, teachers’ training cancelled

The teachers' training in Bihar, which was criticized for clashing with the Navratri festival, has been cancelled due to "unavoidable reasons."

The ongoing teachers’ training in Bihar, which had evoked sharp reactions from teachers as well as Opposition BJP and other parties due to its timing that clashed with the Navratri festival, was on Tuesday cancelled with immediate effect due to “unavoidable reasons”.

Teachers during a protest in Patna. (FILE)

“All kinds of training scheduled from October 16-21 is cancelled from October 17. The training will be treated incomplete. Later, fresh order will be issued for the completion of training,” said a letter from the director, State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), to the principals of all the training institutions in the state.

The letter has been seen by HT.

The SCERT director had last week issued a letter to the teachers to report for training by October 15 evening to their respective district centres for residential training. Thousands of teachers had to undergo five-day training across several districts, from October 16-21. The decision led to unrest among teachers and was also slammed by various parties, especially the BJP, which called it an “affront to Hindu religion”.

This is the second instance when the education department has to withdraw its orders related to schools. Earlier, the education department’s decision to cut down school holidays and open the school on Raksha Bandhan had led an uproar, forcing the government to withdraw the August 29 holiday order after the intervention of chief minister Nitish Kumar.