Mild response by Aurangabad schools to state-wide bandh

Aurangabad: The state-wide shutdown called by certain associations of unaided schools evoked a mild response from the city-based schools with the with the majority of them operating on Monday.

Converting the permanently unaided institutions to the aided ones and applying old pension scheme are some of the major demands for which a section of schools have been agitating at Mumbai for the last few days.

Taking the protest forward, a state-wide call for shutdown of schools on Monday was announced by the associations concerned. The protest was organized co-inciding with the meeting of the state cabinet at Mumbai.

The old pension scheme is said to have more benefits than the revised pension scheme, for which the unaided institutions have been protesting.

“Despite being an unaided school, our institution was running as usual. However, we extend our support to different demands of unaided schools,” a school authority from one of the unaided institutions in the city said on the condition of anonymity.

S P Jawalkar, one of the leaders of action committee of permanently unaided schools in Maharashtra said that the government should fulfill the demand of schools without further delay. “The model code of conduct for Assembly election is likely to come into place and therefore we appeal to the government to fulfill demands as early as possible,” he said.