Teachers cannot be prohibited from forming union: Education Department to Madras HC

In a counter affidavit filed in response to a set of 20 questions raised by Justice N Kirubakaran regarding the functioning of schools in the state, the department submitted, “The military and police force are essentially based on a strong chain of command to ensure execution of an offensive or a defensive armed action, wherein orders are to be implicitly obeyed. The two forces are the extended arms of the government to enforce order, whereas organised teaching personnel is a part of a civil society under employment comparable to other professions and vocations.”

“The safeguards and representations available to other organised work forces cannot be denied to teachers as that would amount to discrimination,” the counter said.

However, a total ban or a prohibition of such organisations will not yield the desired results and may only increase the chances of precipitation as and when crises arise, the counter noted. It also added, “The government will continue to insist upon the teaches’ unions to bear in mind that their forms of protest and struggles should be dignified and modest in keeping with their profession and well within the ambit of law, as the student community looks upon them as models of behaviour.

The judge had raised the queries while hearing a batch of writ petitions from certain private educational institutions challenging the rejection of their pleas for starting English medium sections. Answering a query relating to the need for a mandatory order directing teachers to admit their wards only in government schools, the counter said a teacher is also a parent in all respects and has the right to exercise his or her free will in terms of choice of school for his/her wards. The choice of school is determined by every parent on the perception of quality, infrastructure, accessibility, affordability and evaluation of faculty. This opportunity cannot be denied to the teachers. Otherwise, it also would amount to discrimination, the counter said.

Responding to another question as to why parents chose private schools, even in rural areas, the department claimed that the enrolment of students in government schools is higher than the private schools. It was 64.16 per cent as against 35.84 in private schools and that statistics reveal that the government schools play a predominant role in providing education to the students in the state.