Mumbai: Over 4,000 teachers staged a protest at Azad Maidan on Monday, claiming the state government has not fulfilled its promise to provide 20 per cent aid for private unaided schools.
The state had announced 20 per cent aid but teachers are demanding 100 per cent government assistance that became cumulative since the year 2012.
It has been over a month since teachers of private unaided schools and junior colleges are protesting this issue. On Teacher’s Day, over 200 teachers dressed in black clothes gathered at Azad Maidan to raise this issue.
These teachers are members of the Maharashtra Permanent Unaided Kruti Samiti (MPUKS), an association of numerous private unaided schools of the state.
Teachers have demanded that their salaries should be at par with their counterparts in government-aided schools. Prashant Redij, a senior member of the school principals' association said,
“We have been deprived of financial aid from the government. We have been protesting for over a month now but the government has turned a deaf ear to our demands.”
On August 28, the state government announced 20 per cent aid for teachers of private unaided schools. Vishwanath Mohite, a teacher said,
“The aid was supposed to be increased by 20 per cent every year, starting from 2012. So by 2016, the aid should have been increased by 100 per cent. But the state has not given us any further aid apart from the initial one.”
Teachers claimed that they will continue their protest until the government fulfils the demands. Shehnaz Rahim, a teacher said, “Irrespective of whether the schools are aided or unaided,
we should receive equal pay for equal work as teachers. We will fight until our demands are catered to, as we have been waiting for the last four years.”
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