Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced his government’s decision to hike salaries of guest teachers, for the second time after December 8, at the Chhattrasal Stadium here on Wednesday.
The announcement, however, was met with a protest outside the venue as the teachers felt cheated when Mr. Kejriwal said the file was awaiting the L-G’s approval. The upset teachers blocked Ring Road forcing the police to use water cannons. Soon after this, chaos ensued at the Model Town metro station with security officials pulling down shutters at the station and stopping the lifts.
Decision widely reported
The guest teachers, who initially cheered Mr. Kejriwal on, started leaving when he said that the file pertaining to the issue was awaiting the Lieutenant-Governor’s clearance. The teachers were upset at being called only to hear the decision that had been reported earlier.
On December 8, the Delhi government had decided to increase the salaries of guest teachers by up to 90 per cent. The same day, the Chief Minister had held a press conference in this regard. He had then said that along with the salaries of around 15,000 guest teachers who have cleared the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), salaries for non-CTET teachers’, too, had been increased by up to 44 per cent.
Wednesday appeared to be a repeat of the December 8 announcement.
“The government has just been giving us assurances about salaries of guest teachers being increased. The government only makes announcements, but doesn’t implement them,” said one teacher.
Another teacher, Kavita, who teaches in north-west Delhi’s Auchandi, said many teachers had missed a day of work to be there.
“We have sacrificed a day’s salary to be here. And we get to hear what has already been reported. We were told that a circular would be issued today. But if the file is pending with the L-G, why were we called? To hand over another lollipop?” she asked.
AAP volunteers threaten?
Some teachers also alleged that AAP volunteers were filming teachers who expressed their anger. “When I said ‘Now Mr. Kejriwal will give us another lollipop, an AAP volunteer was filming me. He threatened me saying ‘You are gone’,” said another teacher on condition of anonymity.
Intentions questioned
Raising slogans against the Chief Minister, the teachers said that they had earlier been promised better wages before Diwali.
Later, they were given December 31 as a date. “Mr. Kejriwal said that the file was sent to the L-G in December. This means they lied us to for almost one-and-a-half year. The government never intended to increase our salaries before Diwali,” said Poonam, a teacher.
“I had already read about this. Why did they call us on a weekday?” said an agitated Poonam.
