Sacked teachers of Tripura cut hair in protest against death of colleague

AGARTALA: The sacked teachers of Tripura cut their hair as a mark of protest against the BJP-led state government on Saturday, following the death of a fellow colleague.

On the 34th day of the indefinite strike, one among the sacked teachers Rumi Debbarma (30), allegedly killed herself on Friday evening by consuming acid.

The aggrieved teachers said that Debbarma took the ultimate decision to take her own life out of frustration after losing her job.

Debbarma taught Education subject at Ampura Higher Secondary School under Khowai district and had also participated in the indefinite sit-in protest by thousands of teachers in Agartala.

Reportedly, Debbarma's husband is also one among the 10,323 terminated teachers, and the couple has an eight-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son.

Following Debbarma's death at the ILS (Institute of Laparoscopic Surgery) hospital, three each male and female terminated teachers cut their hair at a sit-in-demonstration as a mark of protest.

"The state government’s attitude is shameless and barbaric. One after another, teachers are dying but they don’t have any sympathy towards the terminated teachers," Kamal Deb, a sacked teacher said.

The 10,323 teachers were recruited between 2010-2014 by the then Left Front government but it wasn't long before their services were terminated on allegation of faulty recruitment policy. The termination order was stayed by the Supreme Court on March 31, 2020, stating that the recruitment policy was not done, as per set rules.

The terminated teachers have been demanding their jobs back since December 7, 2020.

(Edited by Gabriel G Momin)