CHENNAI : Schools in rural areas across the state have not received any funds for the maintenance of toilets from two months in some places to 10 months in various districts across the state. This has impacted the livelihood of sanitary workers, who are yet be paid six months of the wages, apart from affecting the sanitation in these schools. According to data, more than 33,500 sanitary workers are employed as temporary workers in panchayat union primary and middle schools and government schools in rural areas across the state.
The sanitary workers employed in primary schools are paid Rs 1,000 per month while those in middle schools and higher secondary schools are paid Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,000 respectively. It is Rs 2,250 for high schools. Apart, the schools are also given funds to buy toiletries. According to sources, sanitary workers have not received salaries for the past six months in many places while it goes upto ten months in a few places. Most of the sanitary workers are women and they continue to work in the schools as their children study in the schools.
In other places, teachers pool in money to pay them or toilets in the schools are unusable. According to school education department officials, sanitary workers have been paid their salaries with help of other funds that are allocated to panchayats in districts like Tiruvallur and Tirunelveli.
“I have not been paid my salary for six months now. As my grandchildren also study in the same school, I continue to work there. It would be helpful if the salaries are provided on time to us,” said Pattammal (54) who works as the Panchayat Union Middle School (PUMS) in Arasur in Sathiyamangalam block. N Sakthikumar who is part of the school management committee in the school said that despite several appeals to the officials, salaries are yet to be released.