Primary schools teachers association in South Dinajpur took the decision of raising approximately Rs 5 lakh in order to conduct their district sports meet in Balurghat. Due to the Chairman post of the District Primary School council being vacant, the teachers came together to pool in funds. As reported in Telegraph India, the primary teachers involved were part of the school teachers bodies of the ruling Trinamool Congress government, RSP, Congress and CPM. The sports meet was held on the 13th and 14th of December.
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“We had collected around Rs 5.5 lakh on credit from about 55 teachers who belong to different associations and given the money to the District Primary School Council on the condition that it should be returned to them when the new chairman took charge,” said Dibyendu Samajdar, the district president of the West Bengal Trinamool Primary Teachers’ association.
“Politics didn't come in the way of collection of money as the teachers wanted the sports meet to be held at any cost. In fact, district Trinamul president Shankar Chakraborty had donated Rs 2 lakh to the sports meet," he added.
Initially, the funds of the sports meet were supposed to be sanctioned by the Chairman of the District Primary School Council. However, after the previous Chairman, Kalyan Kundu’s resignation in May of this year and also no replacement since then, Samajdar had to take the desperate measure.
The All Bengal Primary Teachers’ Association was backed by the district secretary of the CPM, Shankar Gosh. He said, "It is true that we have different political stands but at the same time, we were adamant on conducting the sports meet in the absence of the council chairman. It was a matter of prestige for us as other districts were holding the meets."
However, he also laid the blame on the government, stating that Trinamool should have taken the initiative to select the chairman of the council, considering that the position was vacant for more than six months.
Suniti Shanpui, district inspector of primary school, was asked about the contribution by teachers to which she replied, "Different teacher associations have arranged funds for the district sports meet this year."
There are 17 primary school circles in South Dinajpur and according to Telegraph India, a total of 662 children took part in the circle-level sports meet initiated on the 3rd of December followed by a two-day district sports event where the winners, who qualified on the 3rd took part.
The state level school sports meet will be held in Kolkata on the 19th of December.
