Mt. Everest Hero Now Made To Look Like A Villain!

The questionable path the Gurukul teachers took to do dharna and humiliate an IPS officer, one of most upright officers in Telangana is worrying. RS Praveen Kumar IPS, is Secretary, Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society. He is Secretary of APSWREIS, and oversaw the functioning of about 290 residential schools. He is a honest, passionate IPS officer who, for years, chose deliberately to serve in the Social Welfare department for his passion towards uplifting the downtrodden. Even when the Telangana State is formed, he preferred the same post. He is the brain behind the social welfare school students Poorna and Anand’s conquest of Mt. Everest. He is father figure for the kids so much so that both kids want to be IPS officers and name Praveen Kumar as their idol. They even dedicated their Mt Everest conquest to him.

So what did he do to provoke the Gurukul teachers? He issued a circular holding linking the attendance of students in the gurukul classrooms to the teachers’ evaluation and salaries. There are a total 77000 students in gurukuls and after the summer vacation ended on June 12, only 11000 returned to classes. Not even 50 % students returned to classes in half of the schools. Not a single student turned up in at least 20 schools. The duties of teachers in gurukuls run by social welfare department are different and as per guidelines, they are termed as ‘house parents’ for the counseling and guidance they need to provide the students who come from the most deprived sections. The service rules for these teachers state they are supposed to be almost parents and even their timings are accommodative towards childrens’ needs. So when the Secretary issues a ciruclar asking reasons for students’ disinterest and what has been done by the teachers to bring back the students to classes, he didn’t cross the line and merely reminded the teachers’ their duties. The teachers owe an explanation. Even if they had objections over the content of the circular, they should have met the Secretary and conveyed it. Instead, they chose to flex their political muscle with a dharna right in front of the Social Welfare office in Domalguda. They roped in Prof Kodandram, Prof Haragopal, Prof K Nageshwar etc to come and speak at the dharna site. All of them attended and spoke. They told how teachers can’t work with a gun towards their head and repeatedly reminded Praveen Kumar is an IPS and so is naturally a non-fit for the Social Welfare secretary post. This is very unfortunate. The gurukul teachers demanded the Secretary be transferred back to Police department.

The teachers took objection to the Secretary’s tours into classrooms and suggestions to teachers and students over teaching and learning methods. They cite him being an IPS officer intimidating! That is funny considering the officer’s background. He did a Masters of Public Administration under the prestigious Edward S Mason programme in the John Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. He paid the $ 60,000 course with the prestigious John Kenneth Galbraith fellowship and the Edward S Mason fellowship. He is not new to academics and hardly a khakee guy sitting in classroom to intimidate. Someone out there is suffering lazy bones to complain against him.

The Secretary himself was taken aback by the ruckus created and called the JAC leaders and told them they could have approached him if they had objections. He immediately withdrew the circular and announced meetings on July 14th to discuss the issues. He showed leadership and concern for the department he is serving and that is precisely why we need to support him. It is only those who take this kind of ownership, over the work to be done, that can make things better in Telangana State. Our sincere request for Prof Kodandram and others is that they shouldn’t do to each and every dharna, just because the organizers were active in JAC! It is time we remove the agitation cap and put on the administration cap. The Government has been open, Praveen Kumar especially so, in dialog and there is no reason to go for dharnas and bandhs even before trying to talk over the issues. We are not understating the need for agitations in Telangana State on any issue but this is completely avoidable issue, if the teachers just tried.

We should support RS Praveen Kumar unconditionally and request the teachers and the JAC leaders to review their stand and choose to talk to the Telangana State Government, instead of hitting the streets unnecessarily.