Hundreds of secondary grade teachers (SGTs) from across Tamil Nadu who had sat on a hunger strike from December 27 called off their protest on Sunday, January 1, after Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that a committee would be set up to study their demand of ‘equal pay for equal work.’ The teachers were demanding that SGTs appointed before and after May 31, 2009 receive the same pay. At present, SGTs who were appointed after June 1, 2009 are paid Rs 3,170 less each month than their colleagues appointed before that date.
Hundreds of teachers were on an indefinite hunger strike for five days at the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) campus in Chennai. On Sunday, as the protest entered its sixth day, a statement was released by the Chief Minister’s office saying a committee will be set up under the guidance of the Finance Secretary, with the Principal Secretary of the School Education Department and the Director of Elementary Education as members, to examine the demands of the teachers. "The government has decided to consider the recommendations of this committee and take action on this demand", said CM Stalin in the statement.
Earlier on December 29, School Education Department Principal Secretary Kakarla Usha had tried to convince the teachers to end the protest. However, the teachers refused to back down until CM Stalin agreed to engage in active dialogue with them and helped resolve the issue immediately. Back in 2018 too, the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA) had held a similar indefinite strike over the long-pending demand for fair pay. At the time, CM Stalin, who was then the leader of the opposition, had supported the teachers’ demands. Fulfilling the teachers’ demands was also on the list of poll promises of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) manifesto for the 2021 Assembly election.