INCREASE IN PAY OF GUEST TEACHERS GETS LG NOD
NEW DELHI: The AAP government’s long waiting proposal to increase the salaries of guest teachers has got Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s nod, deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.
Salaries of 17,000 “guest teachers” in Delhi government schools are finally set to rise by a whopping 70-100 per cent, Sisodia announced on Thursday.
He said the notification on the salary hike will be issued in a day or two.
“A series of Cabinet meetings were held before it got the LG’S nod. Delhi’s guest teachers are facing a lot of issues, low salaries is one of them. With the move, the teachers will be able to lead a dignified life,” he said.
The announcement, warmly greeted by the teaching community, follows a year of back-andforth negotiations between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the Lieutenant-Governor, the capital’s supreme administrator.
The salaries would go up from Rs 21,000 to Rs 34,000 a month for Post Graduate Teachers (PGTS), from Rs 18,000 to Rs 33,000 for Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTS) and from Rs 16,000 to Rs 32,000 for primary teachers.
“Now ‘guest teachers’ will be able to lead a dignified life,” he said, adding: “It is a move towards providing quality education.”
The guest teachers are on contractual jobs and have been demanding for years that their salaries needed to be brought at par with permanent teachers.
Sisodia said the govern- ment was also working on its promise to provide them permanent jobs.
“The file has been sent to the Lieutenant Governor and discussions are going on (how to implement it). Till then, it was important to ensure the guest teachers get good salaries so that they live a dignified life,” he said.
Sisodia said the hike was vital to attract talented teachers.
“We have built 8,000 new classrooms. A proposal to build 10,000 more is ready. There would be increasing need for quality teachers,” he said.
As he stepped out of the Secretariat after the press conference, overjoyed teachers virtually mobbed Sisodia.
Amid slogans of “zindabad”, some teachers garlanded Sisodia.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said: “We really struggled hard to get this (through). I am glad it has finally happened.”
The Delhi Cabinet had in December finalised the proposal to hike salaries and sent the file to then Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.