THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Efforts by the state government to end the two-week-long day-and-night strike of over 13,000 specialist teachers under the centrally-sponsored Samagra Shiksha project failed as the protesters stuck to their demand that their slashed honorarium be restored.
Specialist teachers have been deployed in the state for training students in art, music, physical education and work experience since 2016-17. They were given remuneration through an arrangement by which the Centre foots 60% of the expense while the state bears the rest. The teachers are currently on strike outside the Samagara Shiksha-Kerala headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram demanding they be provided at least Rs 16,000 as monthly pay as against the Rs 10,000 they are being given now.
“In 2016, the pay for a specialist teacher was fixed at Rs 29,000 per month. This was cut short over the years, citing various reasons. At present, we are being paid Rs 10,000 a month. However, after EPF deduction, a specialist teacher now takes home a paltry Rs 8,800 per month which is inadequate to support our families,” said Ratheesh N, general secretary of the Specialist Teachers’ Association.
Ratheesh said the SSK governing council had recommended hiking the honorarium of specialist teachers by Rs 10,000 but the proposal was shot down by the government. It is learnt that the SSK state project director’s intervention to hike the honorarium by at least Rs 7,000 too did not elicit a favourable response. The state government has cited dwindling allocation from the Centre over the years as the reason for the reduced pay.
On Sunday, General Education Minister V Sivankutty said the state government held two rounds of talks with the agitating teachers. The government, he said, assured them that their honorarium would be increased to Rs 12,000 per month and it would come into effect from September 2022. He said the government was exploring ways to get their services changed from a part-time basis to full-time.