Hundreds of secondary grade teachers (SGTs) from across Tamil Nadu entered the fourth day of their indefinite hunger strike on Friday, December 30, demanding ‘equal pay for equal work.’ It has been a long pending demand of teachers in the state, that SGTs appointed before and after May 31, 2009 receive the same pay. At present, SGTs who were appointed after June 1, 2009 are paid Rs 3,170 less each month than those appointed on or before May 31, 2009 for the same role. Secondary grade teachers in Tamil Nadu teach classes 1 to 8 in government schools.
Since December 27, teachers from various districts such as Ramanathapuram, Trichy, Salem, Viluppuram, Cuddalore and others, have been protesting at the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) campus in Chennai. A few teachers had to be shifted to the hospital since the hunger strike began, according to the protesters. Speaking to TNM, Rajakumari, a secondary grade teacher who works at the Panchayat Union primary school in Poothurai village of Viluppuram said, “Teachers appointed after May 31, 2009 are paid only Rs 8,000, while those who were appointed on or before that date are paid Rs 11,170. Why should we be paid less for performing the same job?”
School Education Department Principal Secretary Kakarla Usha tried to pacify the protesters on Thursday and urged them to end the protest. However, the teachers refused to back down. The Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA) had held a similar indefinite strike in 2018. Back then, Chief Minister MK Stalin, who was then the leader of the opposition, urged the then ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to resolve the issue, said SSTA members. Stalin had assured that their demands would be met if the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came to power, the protesting teachers said.
Rajakumari asserted that the hunger strike will continue until Chief Minister MK Stalin agrees to engage in active dialogue with the teachers and helps resolve the issue immediately. SSTA general secretary J Robert noted that ensuring equal pay for the same job performed by the secondary grade teachers was one of the poll promises made by the DMK. “As per poll promise number 311 of the DMK manifesto, the 20,000 aggrieved teachers need to be compensated with fair pay,” he said.
The SSTA argued that the pay received by most secondary grade teachers is inadequate. “Over the last 12 years, we have been protesting for equal pay in such a way that it doesn’t hamper our students’ education. So far, none of the officials have dismissed our request as unjust. Everyone agrees that we are fighting for what should have been awarded as our rightful salary,” Rajakumari said.
SSTA deputy general secretary S Velmurugan highlighted that past efforts by the state government to address their demand have not yielded results. “During the AIADMK regime, two committees were formed to look into the issue of disparity in our salaries. However, the problem wasn’t resolved,” he said. The protesting teachers also alleged that the two committees formed by the AIADMK government have not submitted any reports till date.
On Friday, N Gunasekaran, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Tamil Nadu state executive committee, met SSTA representatives and discussed their demands. Speaking to TNM, Gunasekaran said, “Several women are participating in this hunger strike. Many teachers have fainted so far and were rushed to hospitals for immediate medical attention. From CPI(M), we urge the Chief Minister to promptly speak with the aggrieved teachers and resolve their problems.”