Special school teachers go on strike, parents of hearing, speech-impaired students to meet Himachal CM Sukhu

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 20 (ANI): A delegation of the parents of deaf and dumb students studying in Institution for Children with Special Ability for Boys in Dhalli gathered in Shimla to meet Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as over 136 students are left without teachers after teachers went on strike.
Parents are demanding the government to take the school under the education department as similar school for girls in Sundernagar in Mandi district has been taken over by the education department. While this special school, here in Dhalli is still run by the Child welfare council of the social justice and welfare department of the state government.
Over 25 teachers and staff are working in the Institute and have boycotted the classes until their demands are not fulfilled. The teachers say that the government has announced an increased salary in 2022 but till now no such increment made to their salary.
"We have come here to meet the Chief Minister as our children are without education for almost ten days now. There are no teachers, our children had to skip their examination as there are no teachers and they have boycotted the classes. Our children are here only for food, no education is being imparted to them. We had earlier taken up the demand with the chief minister but nothing has been done so far," said Champa, one the parent of deaf and dumb students.
"We demand that the education department should take over this institute as another such special school has been taken over by the Department recently in Sundernagar. We hope this will be resolved and our students will not suffer any more education loss," added Champa.
"The ICSA is an institute here at Dhalli where the students are not getting education as the teachers have boycotted the classes for over 8to 10 days now. The government has taken over such an institute in Sundernagar and the education department has started running that but this school still has the contract teachers with very less salary and posts are also vacant for teachers. We demand immediate intervention of the Chief Minister and resolve the issue so that our children are not debarred from education," said another parent named Kishore.
"I have been serving in this special school as a teacher for 18 years now, our services have neither been regularized nor the salary has been increased. We have boycotted the classes and we have received notices for action against us under the juvenile justice act, we will not accept it until our demands are not fulfilled," said Ritu Sharma, a teacher in Institution for Children with Special Ability, Dhalli.
"The education of these students is suffering not only today but for a long period as we don't have sufficient teaching staff and no one will be ready to work at very low wages. On the other hand, the same institute for girls at Sundernagar is a regular school and staff and teachers are regular under the education department so what is our fault, we demand the government to fulfil our demands," she added. (ANI)