JACTTO-GEO forms committee in each district for better representation

CHENNAI: To better represent their demands to the State government, the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (JACTTO-GEO) has formed a six-member committee in each district of the State.

With over 3.5 lakh teachers, the State-level committee has announced a review meeting at respective districts on Feb 19, followed by a hunger strike and human chain on March 3 and 24 respectively.

Meanwhile, urging the government to fulfil the demands, over 3 lakh teachers staged a protest on January 5. Followed by this, a top-level meeting was also held on January 8 in Madurai district. As an outcome of the meeting and to cover all the demands of government teachers, each district is currently forming a committee under JACTTO-GEO.

VS Muthuramasamy, general secretary of TN Elementary School Teachers Federation, said, “Formation of such committees will distribute responsibilities in each district and help address more teachers’ concerns. Through the hunger strike and human chain announced in March, we expect the government to pay heed to our demands.”

The committee formed in every district will be a representation of teachers’ association at all levels such as elementary, middle and high schools. The demands are paying the pending arrears under dearness allowance (DA), revising the old pension scheme, filling the pay discrepancy from Rs 3,170 to 20,000 secondary-grade teachers and regularising 12,000 part-time teachers earning a meagre salary of Rs 10,000.

Additionally, teachers have urged the re-introducing of incentive scheme for teachers and allowing them to surrender the earned offs for pay, just like the previous years.

Interestingly, all associations insisted the government to do away with temporary positions completely.