India, Dec. 1 -- Fifteen organisations representing school teachers in Maharashtra have called for a statewide "school shutdown" on December 5, to protest against implementation of the state government's new Sanch Manyata policy for appointment of teachers. Nearly 18,000 schools could face closure and 20,000-25,000 teachers and administrative staff could be rendered jobless under the "disruptive and harmful" policy, threatening the future of government-aided education, especially in rural and hilly regions, the organisations said.

The state school education department had, on March 15, 2024, issued a government resolution (GR) notifying the Sanch Manyata policy, which introduced group recognition of schools and barred allocation of teach...