Teachers and assistant teachers appointed under Nirantar Shikshan Yojana in 2003-04 have alleged a scam in the municipal school board.
Teachers and assistant teachers appointed under Nirantar Shikshan Yojana in 2003-04 have alleged a scam in the municipal school board, saying that their salaries for 19 months are pending since 2008. There are 1,976 teachers and assistant teachers who were appointed under the scheme to teach children in municipal schools, particularly in the evening.
The scheme ended in 2008 and since then these teachers (preraks and nodal preraks) not been paid. They allege that they had not been paid for 19 months before the scheme ended. The total amount due on the school board is about Rs1.19 crore.
Ahmedabad Municipal Employee Union (AMEU) president Anand Parmar said, "After I filed an RTI application asking for the status of funds from the Central government, we came to know that the funds had been allotted to the municipal school board, but still the teachers are not paid. The amount was utilised for purchasing some items."
A nodal prerak, Kanchan Rathore, said that they were appointed in 2003-04 and till 2007 they received regular payments. "But soon, the bad time began and the payment started getting delayed and then stopped. Many preraks belong to poor financial background and they are awaiting their payments since 2008. Why are they ignoring us and our rights?" asked Rathore.
Members of the union have met administrative officer of municipal school board, LD Desai, and even chief minister Narendra Modi with their complaint, but in vain.
About their struggle over these years, union vice president Rajnikant Gohil said that they had organised a rally in 2008 to highlight the issue and also held a dharna for seven days recently. "Why is the school board not giving us our pay?" asked Gohil.
The school board admitted that the payment was pending. Administrative officer Desai said that he was aware about the issue. "They have presented the issue several times. The problem is due to the funds from the central government. We have received funds for various purposes, but not for paying their salary," he said.
He said that the funds for payment of salaries would be released by the central government only after the evaluation of the work the teachers had done, which is going on by an agency. Desai said the school board had also requested twice to central government and also sent a proposal for quicker evaluation so that the teachers could get their pay. Desai said, "If we get permission to divert funds from other heads on provisional basis for their salary, then we will immediately do that. But that permission is also pending."
Interestingly, Nirantar Shikshan Yojana, which ended in 2008, is still witnessing the evaluation of the work the teachers had done.
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