PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday said that no decision had been taken so far vis-a-vis resumption of offline classes for students of Class V onwards.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Goa government function near Panaji, Sawant also slammed a section of the bureaucracy for not taking timely decisions and allowing files to circulate from one desk to another for no obvious reason.
"No discussion on opening of schools for Class V. The task force will hold a meeting. The feedback from the Director of Education will also be sought. Only after that a decision will be taken," Sawant told reporters.
The Chief Minister also said that contract teachers, who had been on strike for more than a week, had accepted the offer presented to them by the state government, but also lamented their grievances had been addressed even before they went on a protest strike at Azad maidan, seeking regularisation of their services.
Contract teachers met me today. They are satisfied. They have accepted the letter I gave them. No one will give them such a good offer. Their salary has been increased from Rs 16,000 to Rs 25,000. No government has ever made an offer as good as this," Sawant said.
"I have resolved issues related to all teachers, whether it is lecture basis, contract basis, para teachers, double part-time. All issues have been resolved, but some are pending in files," the Chief Minister said.
"The contract teachers did not have to sit on strike for eight days. Their file had been cleared before they sat on strike. I do not know which politician coaxed them to go on strike," Sawant also said.
Sawant blamed errant bureaucrats for dragging the issue related to payment of AYUSH doctors for their services during the Covid pandemic.
"I have signed the file related to AYUSH doctors on May 31. Some administration officials are just circulating files without reason," Sawant said.
"The AYUSH doctors' salary has been raised to Rs 50,000 from April 1, 2020. They will get a backlog of the salary. Financial sanction has been given in May 2020. Some people (referring to bureaucrats) are habituated (to delaying files). That is why there is some delay," he said.
Meanwhile, member of the task force, Dr Shekhar Salkar said resumption of offline classes for students of Class V onwards was important and a decision on this has to be taken at the earliest.
“There will be people across Goa who will turn positive. There are chances that students too may turn positive, but schooling is important,” he said.
