VASCO
Goencho Avaaz Party on Sunday urged the Goa government not to jeopardize the lives of thousands of school staff. It strongly condemned the government for its callous and anti-people approach in the prevailing challenging times.
In a press release, the party said that the Department of Education’s circular runs contrary to the one issued by General Administration Department (GAD), making it now mandatory for over thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff to attend school.
Swapnesh Sherlekar, President of Goencho Avaaz Party said the government is consistently proving that saving lives and getting a grip on this pandemic is non-existent on their list of priorities.
"We implore the government to prioritize the health of its people and to ensure that the lives of school staff will not be put in jeopardy. The cascading impact of this ill-thought decision will be devastating for Goa," said Sherlekar.
"Goencho Avaaz Party has repeatedly shared with the government an approach to try and control the spread of the virus. In these unprecedented times, we also demand that the government’s decisions and policies be directed towards containing the pandemic instead of spreading it further.’’
Captain Viriato Fernandes, State Convenor of Goencho Avaaz Party said that the modus operandi of the Goa government right from the beginning of the pandemic has been akin to that of a headless chicken scrambling desperately with no idea of where it is going or what it is doing.
"Sometime ago the Chief Minister taunted the people by saying that even God will not be able to provide hundreds of jobs to the youth. However, he promised 50,000 jobs in the next three years, unbelievably in the midst of a pandemic. Instead of delivering good governance, the Chief Minister is using every opportunity even a global catastrophe to get into election mode with empty promises, instead of prioritizing dealing with the pandemic.’’ said Fernandes
Roshan Mathias, Vice President of Goencho Avaaz Party said that the government has been using teachers for election duties in the past.
"Appointed as presiding officers, these women teachers had to stay overnight and sleep on benches in the classroom. Even when the pandemic just hit, the government tasked the teaching fraternity with conducting a door-to-door survey last year. The teachers were not given a choice and had to comply out of fear of losing their jobs." said Mathias
