Around 200 differently abled part-time teachers working in government schools across Tamil Nadu have alleged denial of regularisation of pay despite a Government Order issued in 2008.
The teachers have alleged that the previous government also failed to comply with the ruling of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in December 2020, asking the government to take a decision. The 200 differently abled persons were among the 16,549 appointed in 2012 as part-time teachers on a temporary basis in consolidated pay, primarily to teach co-curricular subjects like painting, computers and crafts. While initially they were paid ₹5,000 per month, it was increased after many years to ₹10,000 following sustained demands. However, these teachers do not get paid for the month of May during annual school closure, which has remained a grievance for them for long.
The government had issued an order (G.O. 151) in 2008, when the DMK was in power, to provide regularised time-scale pay for all the differently abled employees who had worked for more than two years on a consolidated pay.
H. Jaleel Mohaideen, State president, Tamil Nadu All Types of Differently Abled Teachers’ Association, said that though they had been demanding regularisation of pay by citing this order ever since they completed two years of service, their demands had been ignored.
“Subsequently, 75 of us approached the court in 2020. The government told the court that our demand will be considered in accordance with the law. The court ordered the government to take a decision on our demand within 12 weeks. However, the School Education Department has still not taken a call,” he said.
The association said they were planning to appeal to the present government to regularise their jobs and salaries as the G.O. 151 was passed during the previous DMK regime. It can be noted that all the 16,549 part-time teachers have also been demanding regularisation of employment for the past few years.
