Teachers of aided colleges await salary

Amritsar, July 11

Despite multiple reminders and lodging protests, the aided college and school teachers, who have been working without salaries for the last five months, have now decided to take the government to task.

The non-teaching staff of the Education Department are already observing a pen-down strike on the issue of non-payment of salaries. Teachers of aided colleges have shot a letter to the DPI, Higher Education, exposing the aided colleges that have not paid salaries to their teachers for the past six months.

“There are a total of 136 aided colleges in the state that receive 95 per cent salary grants through the grant-in-aid scheme. Since March 2023, these colleges have not paid salaries to their teachers, while some colleges are paying salaries to teachers spending from their own pockets. Fortyfive colleges in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur have paid no salary to teachers. We had sent letters to the DPI, Higher Education, and even the union ministry regarding the issue, but no one paid any heed to our problem,” said Dr Gurdas Sekhon, district head, PCCTU.

Sekhon said, “Teachers and the state government have been at loggerheads over several issues over the last few months. “Whether it’s Centralized admission portal issue, non-disbursal of salary, 7th pay commission recommendations or lowering the age of retirement, how many times

will we be forced to sit on dharnas or hold protests? Why cannot the government involve the stakeholders, including teachers, while making policy decision on higher education matters,” he said.