School Education Minister urges striking Samagra Shiksha staff to get back to work

Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi inspecting government schools in Tirupattur on Wednesday.

Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on Wednesday has asked teaching and non-teaching staff associated with Samagra Shiksha (SS) scheme to withdraw their ongoing strike and get back to work as the State government has initiated steps to disburse salary for September.

Addressing mediapersons after surprise inspection of government schools in Vaniyambadi town, Mr. Poyyamozhi said the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is concerned about the non-release of last month’s salary to 32,298 staff under SS scheme in the State as it would “affect the livelihood of thousands of teachers and also have an impact on students’ education”.

“The State government is also considering the release of salaries using State funds. The Dravidian model of governance will always stand by the welfare of the teaching community. I urge the protesting SS scheme staff to get back to work,” he said.

Recollecting the State government’s attempts to acquire Centre’s share of funds under the scheme, the Minister said that apart from the requests made by Mr. Stalin to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Minister had led an MP delegation to the Union Education Minister, requesting the Centre to release the first installment of ₹573 crore for 2024-25.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Stalin had reminded him of the non-payment of the fourth installment (₹249 crore) for the previous year, he said. 

In January, the project approval board of the Union Ministry of Education sanctioned ₹3,585 crore to Tamil Nadu for the SS scheme for 2024-2025. The funding is as per 60-40 ratio, with Centre contributing ₹2,151 crore and State ₹1,434 crore. However, the Centre has not released the ₹573-crore first instalment, which was done in June.

Affected staff include those from the State and district project offices, Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs), part-time teachers, special educators, and other non-teaching personnel. The permanent employees – BRTEs and State and district project officials – get their salaries on the last day of the month, while the rest get it before the fifth of every month.

The Minister also inspected government schools in Ranipet SIPCOT, Ambur, Gudiyatham, Vaniyambadi and Tirupattur towns.