Teachers’ protest enters Day 2

The protesters gathered in large numbers at Rajarathinam stadium in the city since Tuesday morning and raised slogans against the state government for not looking into their issues.

Some of the teachers, who were detained, stayed in the stadium since Monday night. Police sources said that ten persons, who had fainted in the stadium, were moved to hospital in the afternoon. A protesting teacher said that many teachers fainted as they were on a hunger fast.

The protesters also took out a rally from the stadium to the DPI office on Tuesday evening.

Since the authorities of the DPI have locked all the gates, the teachers handling classes 9 and 10, staged a demonstration on the road amid deployment of tight police security.

The demonstrators said their protest will continue till their demands were met. Secretary of the teacher’s association K Robert claimed that members were getting less salary compared to their counterparts handling same classes in the same school.

He said that the main demand was that the teachers who had been appointed before and after June 2009 were of two different pay scales. “Teachers appointed before May 31, 2009, were receiving Rs 11,300 as salary and others, who were given appointment after June 1, receive only Rs 7,400 a month.”

Stating that the anomalies should have to be rectified, the association secretary said that the government is lethargic and did not look into their demands for several years.

He said more than 20,000 teachers were receiving about Rs 3,000 less even when they were qualified better, including the clearing of the Teachers Eligibility Test. “Despite promises made by the government that it would constitute a one-man commission, the authorities did not look into the issues,” he charged.

The teachers claimed that their agitation will continue on Wednesday as well.