The Hindu : New Delhi News : “DTEA school teachers working without salaries”

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“DTEA school teachers working without salaries”

Staff Reporter

The association runs 7 secondary schools in the Capital

“95 per cent of the funds for our schools come from the Delhi Government”
DTEA president admits there are delays in payment of salaries

NEW DELHI: Teachers of the R. K. Puram branch of Delhi Tamil Education Association (DTEA) School have a longstanding complaint: payment of their salaries has been “irregular” for the past couple of years. Things were particularly bad over the past two months, they add.

They say they have not been getting their salaries on time and that their remuneration for this past November and December and the Diwali bonus came only this past week after an “agitation” by the staff.

“We have been working without being paid any salary for the past two months. Only on January 10 did we get our cheques. This was made possible only after we came out in the open to voice our protest,” claimed a teacher.

The DTEA runs seven senior secondary schools in the Capital at Janakpuri, Karol Bagh, Lakshmibai Nagar, Lodhi Estate, Mandir Marg, Moti Bagh and R. K. Puram. The schools fall under the linguistic minority category.

“Ninety-five per cent of the funds for our schools come from the Delhi Government’s Directorate of Education, while 5 per cent is taken care of by the management. Even though the State Government’s quarterly grant has been coming on time, our remuneration has been irregular. The situation has been bad for the past two years. Other DTEA schools are facing the same problem though it is not as acute,” alleged one of the teachers.

When contacted, DTEA president K. Karuppiah admitted there were delays in payment of salaries in the past two months but added that it was not “deliberate”.

“It is absolutely incorrect to say that salaries have not been paid on time in the past two years. Yes, there was a problem in November and December, but that was not done deliberately. There was some technical problem in accounts which caused the delay,” he said.

In fact, Mr. Karuppiah wanted to know why the staff had never approached him if they ever had any problems with the management.

The teachers claimed that they had gone to the DTEA office on Lodhi Road recently to speak to him on this matter.

“He was not present, but there were other officials who were very rude to us,” alleged a teacher.

Refuting the claim, Mr. Karuppiah said: “No such incident took place. There was no misbehaviour of any kind. These teachers are saying all these things to bring a bad name to our institution.”

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