No salary, schoolteachers go on indefinite strike in Moga

Moga, April 17

Staff of Adarsh Senior Secondary School of Daulatpura Niwan village in Moga, running on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, went on indefinite strike. They alleged that the society running the school had not paid them salaries for the past 14 months. Around 1,500 students are studying in this school.

Funds not provided by edu board

The staff has requested the society repeatedly, but the officials did not release their salary saying that the government was not providing them with the requisite funds. Manju Bala, principal, Adarsh Senior Secondary School

The school was started by the Punjab School Education Board, Mohali, in association with the BIS Group of Institutes in 2001. Later, the BIS Group was shown the door and a few months before the 2017 Assembly polls, an NGO, Gram Vikas Education Society, Zira (Ferozepur), was roped in as a private partner by the PSEB for running the administration of the schools at Hardasa in Ferozepur and Daulatpur Neewan in Moga.

School Principal Manju Bala said she had been working in this position for 11 years. For the last 14 months, the society was not paying salary to the staff. “Despite not being paid, the entire staff is working hard,” she said while urging the state government to look into the issue and ensure they are paid on time.

She said the staff had requested the society repeatedly, but the society officials did not release their salary saying that the government was not providing them with the required funds. Under the PPP mode, 70 per cent of the expenditure on school staff salaries etc. was to be given by the state government, while 30 per cent was to be contributed by the Gram Vikas Education Society.

“When we approached the PSEB authorities, they said the salaries were to be paid by the society,” said the Principal adding that she had also previously met the former Chief Ministers and Education Ministers in the matter, but they did not help them.

Jasvir Singh, a physical education teacher, said: “We submitted a demand letter to Moga MLA Dr Amandeep Kaur last week but she has not given a positive response.”

Teachers of the school have asked the CM to look into the matter and help clear the backlog of their salaries by directing PSEB authorities to release the funds.

Meanwhile, the local school management has claimed that the education board had not been paying the funds for the last many years. Due to this, they were unable to pay teachers’ salaries.