The Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations - Government Employees’ Organisations (JACTTO-GEO) staged a demonstration at the Collectorate on Thursday condemning remarks allegedly made by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami defaming teachers and other government employees.
The protesters demanded the CM to retract the statement and express his regret to the fraternity of teachers and government employees. Referring to the speech made in Salem recently in which the CM blamed the teachers for demanding salary rise when they were already receiving ‘unreasonably high’ pay, JACTTO-GEO said that the ‘insensitive’ speech was an insult to the teaching fraternity.
Pointing out that the CM said that even headmasters in primary schools were receiving ₹ 82,000 per month as salary, the protesters said that Mr. Palaniswami was speaking based on misleading inputs provided by senior officials.
“Not all teachers receive such salaries. The starting salary will be less than ₹20,000. To receive ₹ 82,000, one must have completed more than 30 years in service,” said S. Jeyarajarajeswaran, district coordinator, JACTTO-GEO, adding that the demand for salary rise was based on rules set by the government by considering inflation and other factors.
Stating that it was unfortunate that the CM considered the government’s expenditure on teachers’ salary as just an expenditure, he said that it must be seen as an investment on the future of the society.
