This story is from September 19, 2014

Additional chief secretary did not say anything against teachers: Minister

State education minister Kalicharan Saraf on Thursday said that additional chief secretary (ACS) did not say anything against teachers or people of the state during teachers' felicitation programme on September 5.
Additional chief secretary did not say anything against teachers: Minister
JAIPUR: State education minister Kalicharan Saraf on Thursday said that additional chief secretary (ACS) did not say anything against teachers or people of the state during teachers' felicitation programme on September 5.
The denial came as part of his explanation for the alleged statements made by the senior bureaucrat during the programme held on Teachers' Day at Birla Auditorium, Jaipur.
"The additional chief secretary, School Education did not say anything derogatory - either for the teachers or for the people of the state. He did not insult anybody,'' said Saraf, reading out the points from the senior bureaucrat's speech on September 5. He said that he along with state minister for panchayati raj and officials of the education department were present at the event.
Congress legislator Ramesh Meena had raised the issue on the first day of the present session, which the Speaker Kailash Meghwal chose to forward to the state government for an explanation. Meghwal had then said that the matter cannot be allowed to be to be raised based on media reports and the facts need to be verified.
On Thursday, the minister in his reply said that while the senior bureaucrat had directed the teachers to introspect and increase their input to ensure that the young children grow up to be successful, nothing objectionable was said. "He raised questions like what would be your teachings? What will you give back to the children, to the society? With the high salaries you draw, you should think of how to return it through your students. The intelligence level in India is high and scientific approach to teaching should be adopted by you to enhance it further,'' said Saraf, adding that these were the points made in the ACS's speech.
"With regard to politicians, he said, "there is a very good saying 'Don't look at what a person says. Look at what a person does.' The teachers have a chance to do something good irrespective of what anybody might have to say. He did not say anything objectionable,'' insisted Saraf.
Meena and the opposition were not happy with the reply and Meena criticized the statements made by the ministers and ACS at the event. "The education minister had said that the government teachers draw double the salary as compared to those in private schools and yet, results in several government schools is zero,'' said Meena.

Merger of schools debated
Merger of schools and unification programme was debated again in the house on Thursday as Congress MLA Sukhram Bishnoi alleged that a primary school in his constituency had been merged with another, which was across the national highway.
"The merger has increased the risks of accidents as primary school students now have to cross the national highway to go to school,'' he said, raising the issue in the zero hour. During the discussion, senior Congress MLA Pradhyuman Singh demanded that the education minister should explain the difference between merger and closure, which education minister Kalicharan Saraf failed to give a satisfactory answer to. In his reply, the minister said while setting the criteria for mergers they had decided that schools across water bodies, railway lines or highways will not be merged. "However, there have been some mistakes and we will look into them if we get a written objection,'' he said.
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