Staff of SGPC-run educational institutions yet to receive salary

Tribune News Service

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, March 11

Teachers employed in educational institutions run by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) are complaining of not getting salary for the past nearly six months.

Teachers at Mata Sahib Kaur Girls College, Talwandi Sabo, rue that irregular release of salaries had become a permanent feature for the past few years.

Teachers said they understood that the strength of students was falling in the institution. At present, the student strength was 500. It used to be over 1,500 some years ago. Teachers said they had to meet domestic expenses that were rising every year.

Similar was the situation is at Guru Nanak College, Muktsar Sahib, Guru Nanak College, Batala, and other educational institutions run by the SGPC.

Staff at Sri Guru Ram Das Public High School, Sultanwind Road, also complained that they not received salary for the past six months. Employees at Guru Nanak Senior Secondary School, Gheo Mandi, and Sri Guru Ram Das Senior Secondary School, Ramsar Road, Amritsar, said their institutions were provided aid by the SGPC, but still they had not received salary for the past four months.

Employees of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Public School, Tarn Taran, said their salary was pending for the past seven months.

The SGPC runs 89 educational institutions, including 37 colleges, situated across Punjab and Haryana. The student strength in these institutions has been dwindling with each passing year. This has led to fall in the revenue and raised the burden of staff salary on these institutions. Besides, losses of these SGPC-run institutions are escalating every year. Over 3,200 employees are working in these institutions.

Sukhminder Singh, secretary (Education), Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, said educational institutions started incurring losses since 2011 that was limited to Rs 1 crore. He said gradually, the losses mounted to Rs 65 crore in 2019. He said this annual loss came down to Rs 40 crore last year and this year it stood at Rs 30 crore.

He credited this turn around to aggressive advertising, approaching families to enrol their children in SGPC-run institutions and imparting quality education.

The annual budget of the institutions managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is Rs 239 crore. Out of this amount, Rs 190 crore is paid as staff salary.

The SGPC has been minimising the losses by contributing from gurdwara funds. This fund conrtibution was Re 1 in 2011 and at present, it was Rs 26 crore.

In any case, this contribution from gurdwara funds cannot go above five per cent in the annual budget of the educational institutions. Meanwhile, efforts are on to make educational institutions self-reliant.

Manages 37 colleges

The SGPC runs 89 educational institutions, including 37 colleges, situated across Punjab and Haryana. The student strength in these institutions has been dwindling with each passing year. This has led to fall in the revenue and raised the burden of staff salary on these institutions.

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