In a significant move, the Punjab Aided Schools Employees Union has announced plans to observe Teachers’ Day with a mass protest and a ‘gherao’ outside the residence of the Punjab Education Minister in his native village. The demonstration, scheduled for September 5, will see employees of aided schools take mass casual leave to voice their grievances regarding unfulfilled government promises and delayed salaries.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the employees intend to wear black clothes and clang plates as a symbolic gesture of their protest during the event, which will be held at Gambhirpur, Anandpur Sahib. This action follows a meeting held earlier at Guru Nanak Girls Senior Secondary School in Amritsar, presided over by district union president Jaswinder Singh and secretary Ajay Chauhan. The union leaders expressed deep dissatisfaction with the current administration’s handling of issues pertaining to aided schools, claiming a failure to implement key promises made during the 2022 election manifesto.
According to union officials, decisions reached during a meeting with the cabinet sub-committee on June 4 have not been implemented even after a three-month period. A major point of contention is the prolonged delay in salary payments to employees of aided schools. In many districts across Punjab, employees have reportedly not received their salaries for the past eight months. In some instances, the backlog extends to 15 months, and in others, it has reached 19 months. Despite the government reportedly issuing new directives, the release of salaries remains stalled, causing significant financial hardship.
Further compounding the issue, arrears related to the Sixth Pay Commission, covering the period from 2016 to 2024, are also reportedly pending. The union highlighted that Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) for retired employees have not been issued, leading to immense disappointment among those who have served the aided school system. Repeated attempts to contact the DPI (Directorate of Public Instruction) office for resolution have, according to the union, yielded no positive results.
The union stated that the state has 9,468 sanctioned posts in 509 aided schools that have been operational in Punjab since 1967. However, this number has been significantly reduced to approximately 1,200 posts due to a policy of post abolition. Even the employees working against these remaining posts are not receiving their salaries in a timely manner, exacerbating the crisis within the aided school sector.
The Punjab Aided Schools Employees Union has put forth a set of suggestions to the government. They propose that the vacant posts within these schools, which operate under the 95 per cent grant-in-aid scheme, should be filled. Alternatively, they have suggested the option of transferring the employees currently working in aided schools to government schools. These proposals aim to address the structural and financial challenges that have plagued the aided school system and its workforce for an extended period.
The Chenab Times News Desk