TN forms committee to address pay gap of secondary grade teachers

CHENNAI: To address the salary discrepancies of Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs), the State government has recently formed a 3-member committee that has the finance secretary (expenditure), principal secretary of the School Education Department and director of elementary education.

The formation comes after the assurance given by Chief Minister MK Stalin to resolve the salary pay gap faced by SGTs for several years.

In December last year, nearly 20,000 SGTsm, affected during the seventh pay commission, staged an indefinite hunger strike in the city.

The members of Secondary Grade Seniority Teacher’s Association (SSTA) had alleged that teachers appointed after June 2009 are facing a pay discrepancy of Rs 3,170 for the same amount of work than those appointed on or before May 31, 2009. Also, in the seventh pay commission, this discrepancy further widened.

Despite repeated protests, the long-pending demands of SGTs on equal pay for equal work remained unheard by both previous AIADMK government and current ruling government. Until the association members stage an indefinite protest and urged the Stalin-led government to take action.

After protesting for nearly 12 years, members of the association welcomed the government’s decision to form a committee to address their challenges. They also urge the committee to swiftly act on their requests.

“It was during the 2018 protest that DMK leader Stalin urged the then government to pay equal salary for equal work,” a member pointed out. “We’re pleased the government has acted on our demands and formed a committee.”