Malerkotla: Physical education, art teachers at aided schools sans salary for months

Some categories of teachers falling under the classical and vernacular sections, working at government-aided private schools, have been working sans salary for seven months.

The non-issuance of a circular thirteen years ago was cited as the reason behind the sudden cessation of payment of their salary in a particular grade since March 2024.

Affected teachers led by PTI Pawan Sharma said the education department had stopped their salary for no fault of theirs, whereas they have been receiving salary at Rs 4400 grade pay from October 2011 till February 2024.

He said, “Whenever activists of the Government Aided Private School Teachers Association led by Hardeep Singh Dhindsa contacted authorities at the Education Department, they were told that the salaries cannot be paid till the Finance Department approves the bills.” He added that authorities insisted on the issuance of a circular that should have been issued in October 2011.

Teachers wonder how the department continued paying salaries according to an increased pay grade of Rs 4400 without receipt of the captioned circular for thirteen years.

Another teacher, Karamjit Singh, said, “Strangely enough, several teachers of our category have since retired after availing of retirement benefits with a Rs 4,400 pay scale instead of an earlier grade of Rs 3,200. Our counterparts in government schools, whose salaries are at par with government-aided teachers, too have started receiving salaries according to the Sixth Pay Commission,” said Karamjit Singh, another teacher.

Teachers said authorities at the Education Department had also been threatening to deduct the difference of salaries paid for thirteen years, though no such deductions were ever made. They said the department intended to decrease the grade from Rs 4,400 to Rs 3,200, which according to teachers was a violation of existing service rules.

The teachers said they would launch an agitation in case arrears of their salary for seven months were not paid. — OC