Part-time special teachers demand job permanency
Part-time special teachers of government schools across the district staged a protest at the Collectorate in the city on Monday urging the authorities to convert their positions into permanent roles.
According to the Tamil Nadu Part-time Special Teachers Association State secretary T. Raja Devakanth, there are 397 temporary teachers — who cover subjects such as music, art and craft, physical education, and computers in government schools — awaiting permanency for more than a decade in the district. “There were over 500 in this district who were among the 12,000 hired in 2012 across Tamil Nadu, but many passed away as temporary teachers and some retired. None of them gets pension or relief fund if they face an accident which is provided for permanent teachers,” he added.
J. Albert, a drawing teacher in a Pachayat School claimed the monthly salary was initially ₹5,000 in 2012, which was increased to ₹7,000 in 2015. “Even after so many years of service, our salary has only reached ₹10,000. Moreover, they are paid only for 11 months, excluding May when schools are closed. I had to avail of huge loans to educate my two children in college.”
Another protester said, “We work only half a day thrice a week. So it is tough to find additional work, especially for the elderly.”
Mr. Devakanth pointed out that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s election manifesto promised to convert the jobs of special teachers into permanent positions. “We request the School Education Department to take action to address our concerns,” he said. It can be recalled that the Tamil Nadu School Education Department had initiated the first round of talks with the teachers on the same issue in February 2022.
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