J&K Governor Agrees to SSA Teachers’ Demands

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal has reportedly agreed to the demands of the school teachers, who have been protesting to be recognised as the ‘government employees’ with revised salaries as per the 7th Pay Commission.  

Over one lakh teachers staged a hunger strike for 25 days in Srinagar’s Pratap Bagh, and Jammu’s Press Club to build pressure on the state machinery. In a meeting with Pal that lasted for over an hour on Wednesday, the assurance was reportedly given to the teachers after five months of the struggle. He reportedly assured the protesting teachers that they will be given their salaries from September 18. The official order is likely to come in the next two-three days.

“This was our legitimate right; we fought for it vigorously. I am finally relieved,” said overjoyed Qayoom Wani, president of the Teachers’ Joint Action Committee (TJAC).

The governor’s advisor Khurshid Ahmad Ganai gave juice to the protesting teachers, as they called off their fast.

The teachers recruited by the Staff Selection Board (SSB), under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) as well as the head masters were denied the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission, and regular salaries due to a mix-up in the government’s policy for the past five months. The teachers who were initially recruited under the SSA schemes were later absorbed, and promoted to the Upper Primary School (UPS) level, instead of filling up those vacancies. Another glitch led the SSA teachers to be treated at par with the Rehbar-e-Taleem teachers, who were appointed on a contractual basis, as they had the highest qualification from a particular village.

These teachers were reportedly promised that they would be regularised and absorbed in the department as permanent teachers. The mix up of the SSA policy with the RET led to massive chaos in the process which subsequently led to the denial of salaries for these teachers as well.

Ahmad Ganai said, “[T]he implementation of the 7th Pay Commission scales had a financial burden on the state government because the government of India had merged the erstwhile SSA and RMSA schemes into a new Samagra Shiksha scheme due to which the allocation was curtailed across the country.”

Currently, the backlog of the salaries is an estimated Rs 1300 crore, according to Qayoom Wani. Initial protests had erupted in the state after PDP leader Syed Altaf Bukhari declined the 7th Pay Commission benefits to the SSA teachers earlier this year. This led the enraged teachers to launch protests across the state, and to form committees to take up the issue politically. In June this year, a delegation of about five-six members had approached the then CM Mehbooba Mufti, to demand rightful benefits of the teachers. The CM had assured the teachers that their salaries would be provided in line with the 7th Pay Commission. However, after the imposition of the governor’s rule, all scope of negotiation had failed, following which, the teachers took to the streets.