Teachers union slams government for delay in resolution of issues

Leaders of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) demonstrated at district centres on Tuesday, registering protest against the government’s failure to initiate measures to address their long-pending issues.

The federation’s State president G. Hrudaya Raju and secretary Y.S. Chiranjeevi in a press release said they were forced to protest, as their repeated pleas to the government failed to yield any results. They said the authorities concerned failed to raise their issues in the ongoing Assembly sessions.

Mr. Hrudaya Raju participated in dharnas staged in Kurnool and Nandyal districts, while the federation’s honorary president A. Sadashiva Rao took part in the protest in Vizianagaram district. Mr. Chiranjeevi participated in the protest at Nellore and federation leader G. Satyanarayana took part in Krishna district.

The protesting teachers demanded the immediate constitution of the 12th Pay Revision Commission and announcement of a 30 per cent interim relief, release of the four D.A. instalments pending since July 1, 2024, the D.A. arrears due from July 1, 2018, the 11th PRC arrears and payment of surrendered-leave arrears without delay.

They also urged the authorities to provide compassionate appointments to children of teachers who died while serving in the Panchayati Raj Department, steps to ensure that teachers are not assigned non-teaching duties, exemption from Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers, immediate payment of gratuity, leave-encashment and other arrears to retired teachers, filling up the vacant posts in higher secondary (Plus) schools, increase retirement age of teachers working in Gurukulas, societies and MTS from 60 to 62 years and regularisation of their services.

Their other demands included implementtion of GPF for municipal teachers and inclusion of aided teachers under the EHS scheme, appointment of a committee to implement common service rules, implementation of the 57-memo and issuance of the related GO for OPS and convening of a meeting by the Education Minister to resolve issues of teachers working in municipal, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) and Model Schools.