Punjab: Aided school teachers demand salaries, plan stir

Grappling with financial pressure and uncertainty, teachers working in aided schools of Punjab have not received their salaries for the last four months. This is the second time that the teachers have been denied salaries. Last year, aided school teachers received salaries after a delay of five months.

In an emergency meeting held at Amritsar, the Aided School Teachers Union called for accountability on the part of Education Department and Education Minister Harjot Bains, who has been promoting the Sikhiya Kranti in state.

“Aided schools have not received salary grants (95 per cent) from the state government for last four months, while C&V (Craft and Vocation) teachers of aided schools are waiting for their salaries for the last 16 months. A total of 8,110 sanctioned posts of regular teachers remain vacant in aided schools out of 9,468 sanctioned posts. Although the Punjab government talks of an education revolution in the state, thousands of teachers of these schools in the state are struggling to fetch two square meals for their families,” said Ajay Chohan, a teacher at DAV School, Hathi Gate, and secretary, Aided School Teachers Union.

The aided school teachers, recruited before April 2003, receive their salaries under the “grants-in-aid” scheme, where the state government covers 95 per cent of their salaries, with the school management contributing the remaining five per cent. Last paid in 2024, the salaries this year have once again been halted due to non-payment of grant.

Over the years, aided schools in the state have been facing deteriorating conditions in terms of infrastructure and faculty. Gurmeet Singh Madnipur, state president of the Punjab government-aided school teachers, said that aided schools in Punjab came into being in 1967 and served as centres of excellent education till 2003. In 2003, the state government imposed a ban on the recruitment of teachers. “Over the years, the number of schools in Punjab has come down to 400, 53 of which are in Amritsar. The number of teachers today has drastically fallen to 1,300 in the state, with some schools being run with only a single regular teacher. The managements too are facing financial distress as student enrolment has dipped and the state government does not give any grants or aid for infrastructure development and maintenance of these schools,” said Madnipur.

The teachers now demand that either salaries be paid or aided schools be merged with government schools as this seems to be the only way for survival. “We have taken loans and cannot afford to lose our savings to pay EMIs. The financial stress is humiliating and frustrating now. Some solution has to come from the government,” said Jaswinder Singh, president, Aided School Teachers Union, Amritsar.

Teachers of aided schools will gherao the DPI office on August 12 “If these issues are still not resolved, stringent action will be taken for which the Punjab government will be responsible,”

warned Jaswinder.