The Hindu : New Delhi News : Government school teacher sets himself afire

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Saturday, Sep 15, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Government school teacher sets himself afire

Staff Reporter

Fed up with alleged harassment by school authorities

Mr. Saini has been passing through depression for almost a year now
‘The senior officials are always looking for excuses to harass teachers’

NEW DELHI: Fed up with alleged harassment at the hands of his school authorities, a 49-year-old teacher of Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School set himself afire inside the school premises at Sarai Rohilla here on Friday.

Ashok Saini, a social studies trained graduate teacher, locked himself up in a vacant classroom, doused himself with kerosene and set himself ablaze in the school around 11-30 in the morning. When fellow teachers and students noticed smoke billowing out of the room, they broke open the door and rushed him to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Late at night he was battling for life with 90 per cent burns.

Mr. Saini, who has been passing through depression for almost a year now over non-payment of a home loan, was allegedly being harassed by the school authorities over trivial matters forcing him to take the extreme step.

“We even sold our house to pay back the loan but we still need to pay Rs. 3 lakh more. This caused him intense mental trauma and he was being treated at Apollo Hospital. At the same time, the school authorities overburdened him making him a class teacher and even served show-cause notices on him over petty issues every now and then,” charged his wife Kamlesh. Waiting outside the burns ward of Lohia Hospital, his sister Santosh Saini said: “He took leave a couple of days ago as he was not feeling well. But he could not inform the school authorities as his mobile phone was not working. They served him a show-cause notice the next day and even threatened to sack him. On his way to school today [Friday] he again had a look at the notice and decided to take the extreme step.”

A couple of teachers who had come to meet Mr. Saini alleged that they were being harassed by senior Education Department officials and were living under constant fear of being transferred or sacked. “The senior officials are always looking for excuses to harass teachers making life difficult for them,” said Mr. Ajay Yadav, joint secretary of Loktantrik Adhyapak Manch. The police have initiated an inquiry into the incident under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code though no case has been registered so far.

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