UP: Teachers Under RMSA not Paid for Five Months, Union Threatens Protest

Lucknow: "I have incurred debts amounting to Rs 55,000 within five months. All because I have not received a salary for five months. Only I know how I am bearing my family expenses," says Ramesh (name changed), a government school teacher from Mahrajganj.

Ramesh fears that if he speaks openly against the government, he will not get paid; instead, he will get fired.

"We have been facing the issue of erratic salary payment for the past three-four years, but this is for the first time that the salaries are not paid for over five months. While the state government and the Centre indulge in blame games, it is the employees who are suffering," said Durgesh, general secretary of Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh.

"If required, we will call the protest again," said Durgesh, Sonbhadra district secretary of Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh.

Like Ramesh, many teachers say that they have begged and pleaded with local and state-level officers, but each official has been passing the buck on to other departments.

For five months, over 9,000 teachers from 1,400 government secondary schools (High Schools) operated under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) across Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's hometowns Varanasi and Gorakhpur and many parts of western Uttar Pradesh have not received their pay.

Due to non-payment of salary, they are facing several problems. They cannot pay for their children's school fees, loan instalments, and treatment of illness. Many of them had to take loans to run households.

"We have informed the district administrations and written so many letters to the state government, the Director (secondary education), and UP Board chairperson Sarita Tiwari. No one has bothered even to send us a reply," says Rameshwar Pandey, state general secretary of Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh (Pandey faction).

Meanwhile, the teachers have warned that if no action is taken on their demands, they will launch a strike "which will eventually disrupt the education system" in the state.

The teachers also said that if the government fails to accommodate their demands, they'll launch a stir and suspend their services, which would impact students who already face gaps in learning due to online classes.

"The state government should have made prior arrangements to provide salaries to the employees. This is not our headache from where they will get funds. We want our employees to be given salaries on time. The Director (secondary education) and UP Board chairperson told us that the funds had not come from the Central government. The government has given assurance that salaries will be given in a day or two, but we are perturbed over such lackadaisical approach of the government," Rajkiya Shikshak Sangh, leading the protest, told NewsClick.

The teachers' union have alleged that the teachers working in the district government inter college are being paid their salaries regularly. But the principal, teachers, and other staff working under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan have always been given "step-motherly" treatment by the current government.

"We have been protesting for the last month for our pending salary. Our union leaders had even submitted a letter to every district inspector of school (DIOS). They said that all teachers appointed under the RMSA in the state had not got their pay. When we asked state government officials, they blamed the Centre and said that they (state government) had not received funds from the Union government," says Arunima, a teacher from Ballia district, adding that she has been forced to lend money from relatives and neighbours.

The union threatened a sit-in demonstration at the district school inspector's offices from July 15-17 across the state regarding the nine-point demands. A memorandum addressed to the chief minister will be handed over to the district magistrate. After that, on August 22, a sit-in demonstration will be held at the office of the Director of Secondary Education. Still, if the demand is not accepted, there will be a gherao of the Assembly in September.