5 months ago
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Two teachers were injured during a protestation by the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA) astatine Ezhilagam successful Chennai connected Monday (December 29, 2025), erstwhile constabulary forcibly removed protesters. Over 1,000 teachers, protesting for the 4th consecutive time for ‘equal wage for adjacent work’, were detained again.
Neither the State authorities nor the School Education Department has responded to the teachers’ protests yet.
One teacher sustained a caput injury, portion different injured her backmost and caput erstwhile constabulary allegedly pushed her to committee a bus. Both were fixed aesculapian attraction astatine the protestation site. Traffic was halted for astir an hr arsenic teachers blocked Kamarajar Salai successful Chepauk.
“The protests volition proceed until our request is met. We person been pushed to our past resort. We person waited and petitioned for 16 years to nary avail,” said a teacher from Karur.
What is the protestation about?
The teachers person been protesting since Friday (December 26, 2025) to item a long-standing wage disparity. Secondary-grade teachers appointed earlier June 1, 2009, person a basal wage of ₹8,370, portion those appointed aft that day person ₹5,200. At present, post-2009 appointees gully a monthly wage of astir ₹40,000, including allowances, compared with astir ₹50,000 for those appointed earlier.
Teachers constituent retired that allowances are linked to basal pay. “As allowances emergence with basal pay, the spread betwixt the 2 sets of teachers has widened considerably. This anomaly needs to beryllium rectified by the government,” a teacher said.
With caller wage commissions coming into force, the quality has widened to implicit ₹10,000. Teachers fearfulness it volition summation further erstwhile the Eighth Pay Commission comes into effect.
Kaladevi B., appointed successful July 2009, said that a quality of conscionable 2 months successful assignment has resulted successful a wage spread of implicit ₹10,000 betwixt her and those appointed earlier June 2009. “We thatch the aforesaid syllabus to the aforesaid children and execute the aforesaid duties, including clerical work. Yet, they are paid much portion we are paid less. The authorities indispensable rectify this,” said the teacher from Kancheepuram.
The authorities had acceptable up 3 committees implicit the past 16 years to probe into the substance and find a solution. The astir caller committee was appointed successful September 2025, erstwhile the SSTA had announced a strike. However, contempt talks with the School Education Minister and different officials, nary solution has been arrived at.
