India, May 2 -- More than 400 surplus teachers from Mumbai's civic, government-aided, and minority-run government-aided schools assembled outside the office of the deputy director of education at Charni Road on Thursday, to protest the suspension of their salaries after they refused transfers to schools in rural areas. More protests have been planned over the next few days.

These teachers have been rendered surplus due to changing enrolment preferences, where parents are choosing to send their children to private institutions rather than municipal and government-run schools. Over the last decade, the drop in enrolment numbers has been particularly sharp in Marathi-medium and non-English medium schools, as parents are keen to have their c...