CHENNAI: Government school teachers with disabilities staged a protest on Monday demanding that employees, who have worked for over two years, be made permanent according to government norms.
About 20 teachers staged a dharna outside the Directorate of School Education on College Road, demanding payment of their salary dues. “Some part-time teachers with disabilities have worked for over six years, when according to the 2008 Government Order (G.O), they must have become permanent staff after completing two years,” said S Namburajan, State general secretary, Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC).
In addition to this, they also pointed out that the accessibility infrastructure in schools and colleges was non-existent, making it harder for them to access their workplace.According to Namburajan, there are 12,000 art teachers in government schools across the state, of which there are 150 teachers with disabilities. “All of these 150 teachers are still in temporary posts. The Government Orer had also stated that the teachers should be brought from the consolidated pay scale to the time pay-scale which too hasn’t been implemented.”
During the teachers’ protest held earlier in May, Thiyagarajan, a differently-abled teacher, died while attempting to stage a protest outside the Tamil Nadu Secretariat. Government school and college teachers in Tamil Nadu have been protesting against the newly introduced pension scheme in addition to demanding that their pay commission arrears be paid to them. They have also demanded that their employment be regularised by making permanent those who hold temporary contracts.