Protesting school teachers cane-charged in Bihar

Patna, July 15 (IANS) At least half a dozen people were injured Tuesday in police cane-charge of hundreds of contractual school teachers when they staged a protest here demanding pay at par with regular teachers, teachers and officials said.

"Police cane-charged the teachers to disperse them as they had blocked a busy road for over two hours," a police official said.

Soon after the cane-charge, the issue was raised in the state assembly by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which demanded a statement from the government.

The teachers - employed on a contractual basis by the Bihar government - said they would continue their protest till the government fulfiled their demand of "equal pay for equal work".

"We contractual teachers are getting less than half of what permanent teachers get," Ranjit Kumar, one of the protesting teachers, told IANS.

The protests came after state Education Minister Brishen Patel announced a hike in the salary of contractual teachers.

About 2.5 lakh contractual teachers in Bihar have been demanding pay at par with regular teachers since last year.