SSA teachers on warpath, threaten lockdown of schools
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers on Thursday threatened to stage state wide demonstration if the government failed to streamline the release of their salaries till Eid-ul-fitr.
The teachers assembled in Srinagar Press Enclave under the banner of JK Rehbar-e-Taleem Teacher Forum (ReTTF) and staged a massive protest against the delay in the release of their pending salaries.
The teachers said the government has not released their salaries for the past five months, causing hardships to them.
“We will go for state wide lock down of schools and government will be responsible for the consequences. Around 70 percent schools in rural areas are dependent on ReT teachers,” the teachers said.
They protesting teachers said they have decided to continue the lock down of all schools on Friday as a mark of protest against the government’s failure to release their salaries.
“We will meet the education minister tomorrow and discuss our grievance with him. We will announce our future plan after our meeting with the minister. But our programme will continue tomorrow,” the teacher said.
“If the government is not in a position to streamline the SSA salary issue, it should convert all SSA posts into state non plan posts so that the salaries will be released on time,” said President ReTTF, Bashir Ahmad Dar.
The protesting SSA teachers were holding placards-“No Work No Pay” and “We Want Justice” and said government was adding to the miseries of the SSA teaching community by delaying release of their salaries.
“SSA teachers who are without salaries for past five months are facing immense hardships in making their both ends meet. We are not in position to pay the school fee of our children,” a protesting teacher said.
The protesting teachers castigated the JK Finance Minister for making tall claims to streamline the release of SSA teachers’ salary from the month of April saying that the assurances remained confined to papers only.
“The finance minister in the last budget session in Jammu made a statement on the floor of the House that the salary of SSA teachers will be delinked and released regularly from the month of April without any delay. His statement was endorsed by Chief Minister Mehboba Mufti as well, but unfortunately the government has failed to streamline the release of our salary,” the teachers said.
They said they are without salaries from past five months. “Besides, the government has not released the arrears of SSA teachers from past more than two years,” they said.
The teachers threatened to stage state wide protest if the government failed to streamline the release of SSA salary till Eid-ul-fitr.
The protesting SSA teachers later marched on Residency road Srinagar from Pratap Park to the Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) and submitted a memorandum to the director school education.
KV Correspondent
