MAPUSA
Making a strong pitch for restoration of the old pension scheme, the All India Primary Teachers Federation (AIPTF) led the nation-wide campaign, “Bharat Yatra” into Goa on Sunday and held several public and corner meetings in various parts of the State.
“Our primary demand is for reinstatement of the old pension scheme which will benefit everyone. Over 30 lakh teachers in the country affiliated to the federation are supporting our campaign demanding the old pension scheme for all government employees, including teachers,” said Hari Govindnam, Treasurer of AIPTF.
The AIPTF executive member was addressing the media at one of his campaign meetings in Mapusa. The Goa Rajya Prathamik Shikshak Sangh President Kamalakar Desai and General Secretary, Satish Prabhu Gaonkar among others were also present.
In Goa, the Goa Rajya Prathamik Shikshak Sangh along with the Goa Government Employees Association participated in the Bharat yatra.
The yatra commenced on Sunday morning from Gaitonde Ground, Canacona and after holding a public meeting at Navelim entered Mapusa and later proceeded to Patradevi in the evening for its onward journey into Maharashtra.
Speaking further, Govindnam said there were several other demands like regularisation of teachers working on contract, improved working conditions for teachers, uniform pay scale throughout the country etc.
He also demanded a review of the National Education Policy which according to him was quite complex for implementation.
He further informed that the federation has made an appeal to all political leaders to honour their demand.
“We had made a similar demand during the assembly election in Karnataka and the Congress had included our demand as one of their guarantees in their manifesto. The rest is history,” Govindnam said, with a broad smile on his face.
