The government should rectify anomalies related to the recent hike in pay scale for teachers and the benefits should be implemented with retrospective effect as has been done in the case of employees with similar pay scale, the Kerala School Teachers Association has demanded.
‘’The government order making the entry level pay scale of all teachers on a par with that of similar pay scales has led to many benefits being denied to teachers,’’ KSTA general secretary A Shahjahan said.
The anomalies committee, which was entrusted with studying anomalies related to implementation of pay scale, was disbanded by the UDF Government, he alleged.
The government has made higher secondary teachers selection grade and principal scale the same.
The pay scale of high school teachers and the pay scale of DEO, which is a promotion post, has also been made on a par. This will lead to denial of benefits during promotion.
Notional fixation was allowed for principals without selection grade. Since the pay scales have been unified, many teachers have to pay back the benefits to the government.
Claiming that only a limited number of teachers who entered service after 2009 will benefit from the pay scale hike, Shahjahan said the move has widened the gap between junior and senior posts.
Those teachers who opted for headmaster’s post and then became principals have lost four increments, he said, adding that this would not happened had the anomaly committee been in place.
The number of scales for higher secondary and high school teachers have been reduced and teachers are denied the benefit of retrospective effect in pay hike. The government has cheated teachers by slashing the number of scales and denying them existing benefits, Shahjahan said.”
KSTA demands that the government takes urgent steps to rectify the issue,’’ he said in a statement.