Why was an Indian teacher sacked for having a third child?

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) – When Rehmat Bano Mansuri and her family welcomed their third child in 2009, no one ever thought it would end up getting her fired from her job – more than a decade later.

That is just what happened this month.

Authorities in India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh laid off Bano from her job as a public school teacher, citing violations of the state’s two-child policy.

The policy they referred to was introduced in Madhya Pradesh in 2000 and came into effect in January 2001.

Under its terms, any public employee who has a third child after Jan. 26, 2001 could be dismissed from their job.

In Bano’s case, though, that happened some 14 years after her child was born.

The basis of her dismissal was a complaint filed by Shyam Singh Pawar, a former district president of the Madhya Pradesh Teachers Congress, in 2020.

The official letter issued for her termination said she “has not complied” with the rules laid out in the policy and “is punished with a penalty of dismissal from service.”

Bano, who started working as a chemistry teacher in 2003, said she was aware of the policy.

“But we came to know about the pregnancy very late and the doctors advised against an abortion,” she told Anadolu.

Bano has approached the state high court against what she says was a “biased decision.” She has filed a petition but is still waiting to find out if it has been accepted by the court.

“There are at least 34 other teachers … who have three or more children, but there has been no action against them,” she said, calling for those responsible for her dismissal to be held accountable.

Inder Singh Parmar, minister for school education in Madhya Pradesh, told Anadolu that the state has a clearly defined policy “and action will be taken as per the rules.”

Pamar, however, refused to speak about Bano, saying it is against the ministry’s policy to comment on individual cases.

Madhya Pradesh authorities previously said Bano was only sacked after a complete inquiry was conducted into the complaint filed by Pawar.

Bano’s is also not a lone case. Last year, education department officials issued notices to some 1,000 department employees for violating the state’s two-child policy.

However, investigations are still underway and no action has been taken against any of them so far.

For Madhya Pradesh’s two-child policy, Anadolu reached out to Prem Singh Patel, the state minister for social justice, but he did not respond to requests for a comment.

- Questions over policy

While India does not have a two-child policy at the national level, there are currently six states with their own such law – Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha.

The policy’s scope is not limited to education. In Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, a person with more than two children cannot contest in local elections or hold public office.

In Maharashtra, people with more than two children are not eligible for government jobs since 2006, while in Gujarat and Odisha they cannot be members of local government bodies.

Experts say such policies are not fair and should be reviewed or scrapped.

“One can’t police any couple or set a limit on how many children they can have,” rights activist Saira Shah Halim told Anadolu.

On Bano’s case, she said it was important to note that an abortion would be risky for both mother and child.

“Also, Bano has alleged that many of her colleagues, including male teachers, who have more than two children have not been fired,” said Halim.

Sadiq Khan, a lawyer based in Bhopal, said Bano could get respite from the court if she proves that an abortion was not possible because of risks to the mother and child.

“In some cases, courts have reversed termination orders,” he said, while also calling for a thorough review of such policies implemented in several states.

- Population control

India’s population is now over 1.425 billion, according to UN estimates, putting it above China as the world’s most populous country.

From time to time, experts say, there have been calls from lawmakers for stringent steps to address the population boom, including measures such as the two-child policy, incentives and disincentives, or other punitive actions.

However, Poonam Muttreja, executive director of non-profit group Population Foundation of India, said proponents of these policies “ignore the fact that such measures influence demographic trends in the long run, as the example of China has shown.”

On states that have enacted their own laws, she said the federal government must ensure they do not violate the spirit of India’s Constitution or the National Population Policy, which lay emphasis on “informed choice” and “voluntary” family planning.

“Secondly, it is important to note that India has achieved replacement level fertility of 2.1, indicating that, on average, an Indian woman of reproductive age has two children,” she told Anadolu.

“So, when population stabilization has already been achieved, it would be ill-timed, unnecessary and undemocratic to introduce any coercive measures for population control.”

Muttreja also cited a study conducted by a former civil servant in five states, which found that the two-child policy led to a “rise in sex-selective and unsafe abortions, men divorcing their wives to run for local body elections, and families giving up children for adoption to avoid disqualification.”