While many government employees are happy with the announcement of Deepavali bonus by the state government, part-time school teachers in government schools have been waiting for a Government Order (GO) announcing a hike of Rs 2500 in their salaries. Most of them have been working in government schools for more than a decade and hope for a permanent job status one day.
Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister had recently announced that part-time teachers who work in middle, high, and higher secondary schools would get an additional Rs 2,500 in their salary. He also promised them that the order in this regard would be issued before Deepavali.
The 12,000 odd part-time teachers have been waiting for the GO hiking their salaries from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,500 ever since the announcement. Anbil Mahesh had also promised that they would be provided medical insurance coverage worth Rs 10 lakh per year.
Jesu Raj, president of the Thamizhaga Part-Time Special Teachers Association, said that he was disappointed with the government. “We demanded Rs 25,000 as a basic salary for teachers. We had also requested the government to regularise the employment and make them full-time teachers. But the government announcement was only about hiking the salary by Rs 2500,” he said.
The part-time teachers association had staged a hunger strike to register their protest for 10 days from October 25 in front of the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) in Chennai. The teachers withdrew the protest based on the promise made by the minister.
These teachers work part-time for 12 days every month.Their pay scale was as low as Rs 5000 in 2012. Later, it was increased to 7,000.
In 2016, the consolidated pay was increased to 7700. After several protests the government increased their salary to Rs 10,000 in 2021.