Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Wednesday announced certain measures in a bid to pacify different group of teachers who are on hunger strike and appealed to them to return to work.
On the demand of secondary grade teachers for “equal pay for equal work,” he said the three-member committee constituted to look into this issue will finalise its recommendations in three months and submit its report to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for making a decision.
Regarding the demand of part-time teachers to regularise their employment and pay, the Minister said there were 10,359 teachers working as part-time employees for 10 years or more. He said the consolidated pay of ₹10,000 they were receiving now will be increased to ₹12,500 henceforth. The government will also bring them under medical insurance with a coverage for ₹10 lakh [per year].
On the demand from Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified aspirants for jobs, he said the government has decided to increase the upper age limit for employment to 53 for those under general category and 58 for those in other reservation categories. He said there were several litigations pending in the courts regarding the recruitment.
He further said the government has decided to bring 171 teachers for vocational subjects working on a temporary basis into regular time-scale pay. A Government Order will be issued for filling the 446 vacancies of Grade III librarians in public libraries from among the 2,058 village librarians in the State.
Teachers disappointed
J. Robert, general secretary, Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA), said that though the teachers opposed the formation of the three-member committee in January 2023, the government assured that the discrepancies in salaries would be addressed in three months.
Pointing out that the secondary-grade teachers were fighting for this demand for 14 years, he said it was disappointing that the government has now said that the committee will submit its recommendations in three months. He said the government should have at least announced an interim relief by providing every month a portion of the salary amount the teachers were losing out now.
C. Senthil Kumar, State coordinator, Tamil Nadu All Part-Time Teachers’ Association, said the increase in salary of ₹2,500 was disappointing. He said the government must have at least announced measures that would take them closer towards regularisation of their employment. Both the associations said they would be continuing their protest.
A.N.S. Prasad, president, Tamil Nadu Private Schools Parents Teachers Association, said the government’s announcements were disappointing. He urged the government to not jeopardise the lives of the teachers anymore and fulfil their demands immediately to ensure social justice.
