Siraha, July 2 :

Temporary teachers from different schools in Siraha today padlocked the District Education Office with staffers, including the district education officer Dilli Rimal, among those inside.

Coordinator of Victim Teachers’ Group, Bilakshan Mahara, said they had requested the staffers to come out of the building before they locked it out. “They ignored our request and remained inside the office and we padlocked the office as per our programme,”

Mahara said, adding that the lockout would continue till tomorrow.

In 2001, the DEO and donor organisations had agreed to hire dozens of teachers on contract for several primary schools in the district on the condition that the donors would provide salary for the teachers for a certain period of time after which the teachers would be adjusted in the government quota.

The temporary teachers have been demanding their adjustment in the 70 relief quota of teachers, which the DEO is yet to distribute.

When asked about the demand forwarded by the temporary teachers, DEO Dilli Rimal, who was in the padlocked building, said that it was difficult for the DEO to decide on the matter and that it should be done by the respective school management committees. “We have called a meeting of the District Education Committee and it would decide on the issue,” Rimal said.