Nerul school teachers to go on indefinite strike

Students of St Xavier’s School, Nerul, may suffer as their 300 teachers have decided to go on an indefinite ‘cease work’ strike from Tuesday. The teachers are demanding salaries on the basis of the of the sixth pay commission.  

Although a circular was issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in August, stating that even the government-aided private schools should pay their teachers salaries based on the sixth pay commission scales, these school teachers complain that they are not even paid according to the fifth pay commission.

“After working for 24 years, my gross salary per month is only Rs15,000, when it should be Rs28,000 according to the latest pay commission,” said Pratima Sharma, a teacher.
Now, the teachers have called for a meeting with the management on Monday, where if their demands are not met, they will go on strike from Tuesday.

“We will protest outside the school premises and refuse to hold classes. We will also meet the deputy director of education,” Sharma added. 

In August, the school fees were hiked from Rs400 to Rs811 for the primary and Rs500 to Rs1,000 for the secondary section, but the salaries of teachers were not raised. “In a parents-teachers association meeting it was decided that fee would be hiked so as to pay the revised salaries to the teachers. But three months on the trustees have made no mention of raising our salaries,” said another teacher.  

Acting as a mediator between the teachers and the management, the school principal said that she did correspond with the trustees for months so that the teachers get their legal dues. But she has not received a positive reply yet.

“I am trying to sort out the issues between the teachers and trustees. They say the pay is being held up because of some cases pending in the high court. But it’s been six months, and the teachers are getting restless. Hopefully, the matter will be resolved on Monday,” said Manisha Andhansare, principal of the school.