About 30 teacher trainers employed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) gheraoed the office of the Chief Education Officer (CEO) on Saturday protesting against the sudden transfer to Cuddalore District. The protestors (mostly women) said that some of them have worked here for 12 years.
They said that on Friday evening they received a call from the department here to inform them that they have been transferred to Cuddalore district. They were also asked to collect the orders from the office here on Saturday. The teachers claimed that the transfer would affect their seniority and that they would have to get their salaries in the district where they were posted, on Saturday. The teachers refused to collect the order. CEO of SSA V. Mallika pacified the teacher trainers. An SSA official said that it was a paper transfer and that it would not to be implemented. The official said that the Union Government that funds the scheme has allotted lesser money for Coimbatore and a few other districts for the first quarter of 2015, while more money was allotted to some of the districts, including Cuddalore.
The official said that they had to prepare the paper transfer to make up the shortage of funds allotted to Cuddalore for three months so that they could get their salaries there. Official sources said that the transfer would not affect the seniority and that salary would be credit to their accounts online and that the shortage would be met in the next quarter.