VISAKHAPATNAM: The process of merger of all the 2,110 municipal and corporation schools with the Department of School Education (DSE) is almost complete.
Officials said 104 municipal schools were merged in Vijayawada while 147 Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) schools were merged in Vizag. Nearly 30 per cent of the teachers were against the move. Schools are reopening in July.
"This does not involve buildings and other infrastructure. The students, teachers and the systems of education are all covered by the DSE. All formalities and procedures have been completed on paper,” they said.
The GVMC has no role to play in the education system in the new academic year from next month," GVMC deputy education officer D. Srinivas told Deccan Chronicle.
Municipal officials did not take proper care of the schools sector because of their other civic responsibilities. Now, DSE will look after the schools and ensure better management and supervision, it is hoped.
While a section of teachers in municipal schools are not happy with the merger, there have been no serious protests so far. Teachers' union leaders say seniority will be lost and promotions will be affected. They are currently receiving transfers within the municipality or municipal corporation.
Once the municipal schools are merged into the DSE, the transfers will be similar to that of teachers working in the Zilla Parishad. Hence, the opposition.
"The transfer issue is not a serious one. It will happen in urban limits only. So, teachers need not worry about it," a DSE official told DC.
According to leaders of the municipal teachers federation, the services of 14,000 of them will be merged with the services of 60,000 ZP teachers.
Recently, Guntur municipal teachers staged a protest seeking immediate withdrawal of GO - 84 by the government and a halt to the merger of municipal schools.
In some areas, villagers too are up in arms against the move. They are concerned over the merger of the Sirsapalli school with Koppaka ZP high school in Anakapalli district. The teachers at the school were transferred.
A parent said, "It is difficult to go to the Koppaka school as it is 3km away from the highway."
