High school teachers too have decided to boycott the SSLC evaluation work, scheduled to commence across the State on April 17. They have set the date as the deadline for fulfilment of their long-pending demand of pay revision to be fulfilled.
J.C. Shankar, president of the Karnataka State High School Teachers’ Association, and M.S. Devaraj, vice-president of the association, said the pay scale of high school teachers was very low compare to that of assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) and panchayat development officers (PDOs). For years, the teachers have been demanding increase in pay on a par with ASIs and PDOs. They believe the wage anomaly could be removed if the Kumaranaika report is implemented. They are demanding a 30 per cent hike in basic pay.
CM’s promise
Mr. Shankar said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had, at a special meeting held on April 15 2015, promised to implement the report in toto, but he had failed to do so.
He added that the teachers were ready to face any government action on the matter.
The association has made it clear that the State government would be solely responsible for any law and order problems arising out of the boycott.
Mr. Devaraj said the teachers wanted to abstain from evaluation work last year but did not do so following Siddaramaiah’s assurance.
He added that the government was now “playing with the lives of over 50,000 teachers and lakhs of students”.
The association plans to do “decoding work” on April 17, and will boycott work from April 18 if there is no move from the government.
