Tribune News Service
Ravinder Saini
Rohtak, November 9th
A group of teachers at state colleges, calling it a “violation of the right to privacy,” have opened a front against state authorities for imposing a mandatory condition of declaring one’s health when completing the Annual Confidential Report (ACR).
They have called for the condition to be lifted with immediate effect.
The Haryana Government College Teachers Association (HSGTA), an elected association of college teachers, has decided not only to launch a signature campaign against the move, but also to slam “thalis” and clap its members in all colleges across the state.
The corresponding decision was made yesterday at an online meeting of the HSGTA state boards in order to decide on further action against the move after detailed discussion. The association officials claimed that representatives of a majority of state colleges attended the online meeting and passed the decision on the decision unanimously.
The development came a day after the Department of Higher Education (DHE) set the health screening parameters for the ACR to help teachers in this regard. This is the first time that the DHE has included a health status column in the online form for the college teachers’ ACR.
Sources said the health report would include the examination report of blood count, blood glucose, lipid profile, liver function test, kidney function test, vitamin D test and blood pressure from teachers who are required to submit their ACR for the 2021-22 session online by 11/20.
dr Pratibha Chauhan, Secretary-General of HSGTA, said in a letter to the Director-General (Higher Education) that if the department is so concerned about the health of teachers, it should organize health check camps and offer the possibility of medical leave for the university teachers.
“The move aims to collect health data from all teachers so that they can be given early retirement based on their health report. We will have no hesitation in holding Dharna outside of State Headquarters if demand is not met soon,” she added.
dr Amit Chaudhary, President of the HSGTA, said: “The ACR relates to the work and conduct of each teacher and the report reaches the higher authorities after passing through various channels. It is a violation of the right to privacy to require teachers’ health reports to be attached to the ACR. In addition, the report can also be used to retire teachers early, so we oppose this and will be banging and clapping ‘thalis’ tomorrow to register our protest.”
dr Priyanka Verma, an assistant professor at Government College in Meham, said teachers would bring “Thalis” from home to make the protest successful.
Report requested by November 20th
The health report will include details of CBC, blood glucose, lipid profile, liver function test, kidney function test, vitamin D test and blood pressure from teachers who are required to submit their ACR for the 2021-22 session online by November 20
