The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Karunanidhi accepts five demands of teachers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 23, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Karunanidhi accepts five demands of teachers

Staff Reporter

Thanksgiving conference organised by Thodakkappalli Aasiriyar Mandram

— Photo: K. Pichumani

AWARD: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi honouring a teacher at a conference in Chennai on Saturday. Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy (second from right) and K. Meenakshi Sundaram, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Thodakkapalli Aasiriyar Mandram, are in the picture.

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Saturday agreed to address five demands from among those placed by teachers at a ‘Thanksgiving State Conference’ organised by the Tamil Nadu Thodakkappalli Aasiriyar Mandram here.

Vacancies

He said secondary grade teachers would be promoted to fill vacancies of graduate teacher posts in classes six, seven and eight, when identified. Vacancies of Tamil teachers would be filled with eligible secondary grade teachers.

Providing Provident Fund under a separate head called Teachers’ Provident Fund, declaring training sessions of teachers at Cluster Resource Centres as full working days and appointing Elementary Education Officers and Assistant Elementary Education Officers directly and through transfers in a 30:70 ratio were the other demands Mr. Karunanidhi agreed to fulfil.

Elaborating on the name of event (Nandri Paraattum Maanila Maanad), he said, quoting from the Tirukkural that ‘nandri’ could be used in two different connotations. “I am here to appreciate your gratitude to me. Gratitude has become very rare in Tamil Nadu,” he told teachers, adding, “When I see the joy in your eyes, I forget all my sorrows.”

Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy urged teachers to make students conscious of their ethnic identity.

Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy said teachers, besides taking regular classes, needed to inculcate self respect and common sense among students. “You are in a position where your efforts in teaching students will reflect in our status in higher education,” he told the teachers.

School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu said no other government had supported education as much as the present DMK regime. From a Rs.7,000-crore budgetary allocation to appointment of the required number of teachers, the Government was focussed on ensuring that good education was available to all.

Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Adi Dravida Welfare Minister A. Tamilarasi and general secretary of the Mandram K. Meenakshi Sundaram spoke.

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