Tamil Nadu: Teachers' Protest At DPI Nungambakkam Ends After Police Detained Protesters

The protest by teachers at DPI Nungambakkam in Tamil Nadu has come to an end after the police detained the protesters.

Tamil Nadu: Police detained teachers' to end the protest.

The teachers' protest inside the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) campus in Nungambakkam came to an end today as the police detained the protesters. Government teachers were demanding equal pay, temporary teachers were demanding permanent job positions, and aspirants who qualified in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in 2013 were demanding government job opportunities. The protests were led by the teachers of the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA), who are advocating for equal pay for equal work, as well as another group of temporarily appointed teachers seeking permanent job positions, and qualified candidates of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2013 demanding appointments and the cancellation of Government Order 149 (G.O), which was passed by the previous AIADMK government and requires these candidates to pass another competitive exam to verify their eligibility, were protesting on eighth day, but police detained them and the protest came to an end.

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Teachers' protest inside the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) campus, Nungambakkam ends today after Police detain the protesters.

Government teachers demanded equal pay, temporary teachers demanded permanent jobs and TET 2013 qualified… pic.twitter.com/rkYqUx8eyF

— ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2023

For over a decade, secondary-grade teachers (SGTs) have been advocating for pay equity, emphasizing that there should be no wage disparity among teachers appointed before and after May 31, 2009. According to reports, teachers appointed on and after June 1, 2009, receive a salary that is Rs 3,000 less than those who were appointed before May 31, 2009. The demand of the SGTs is to rectify this pay discrepancy.

Around 130 teachers have been admitted to government hospitals due to ill-health as a result of the protest.

K. Sesuraja, State President of the Tamil Nadu Part-time Special Teachers Association said that six rounds of talks have taken place so far with officials from various levels in the School Education Department.