5 months on, SSA-RMSA teachers await salary
Tribune News Service
Patiala, December 22
Thousands of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) teachers in the state are awaiting their salary for the past five months.
In fact, they have been without salaries since July. Teachers appealed to the government, which had failed to pay their salary since July, to ensure that they got their dues on time.
Teachers further claimed that for the last many years they were not receiving salaries regularly. Instead, their salaries had been intermittently stopped and released at irregular intervals.
“The issue of irregular salary has been brought to the notice of higher officials many a time in the past, but no efforts have been made by the government to address the issue,” they lamented.
“We are facing extreme hardships following the non-disbursement of our salaries. It is getting difficult to meet daily household needs. The government should immediately solve the issue,” said Gagan Ranu, an SSA teacher.
Condemning apparent lackluster attitude of the government Hardeep Toderpur, state president, SSA/RMSA Teachers’ Union said, “As most teachers are the sole earning members in their families, therefore, they are finding it difficult to run their households. Not releasing salaries for the past five months clearly shows how insensitive is the present government towards teachers.”
However, Director General, Secondary Education, Punjab, Prashant Goyal, said, “We have not received funds from the Central government. Meanwhile, whatever funds we had received have been exhausted. We have already requested the state government to provide additional funds to release salaries of teachers.”
