DUTA PRESS RELEASE: 21 February 2018

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The teaching community of Delhi University is shocked to learn that the municipal corporations of North and East Delhi have withheld payment of salaries of teachers employed in corporation schools for many months, thus driving these teachers to debt, despair and in some cases even death. We have also learned that retired school teachers are not being given their due pension. We express solidarity with these teachers and warn the corporations that any further delay in the regular disbursement of salaries, pensions and due arrears will invite sharp reaction and direct action from Delhi’s academic community and teachers’ associations.

Despite a High Court order mandating the immediate payment of salaries and other due emoluments of teachers in corporation schools, the North and East Delhi corporations have roguishly refused to comply. This has led to severe torture and harassment for teachers who are being forced to work for long hours, often beyond school timings, and even on Sundays, to fulfil their various professional obligations. The callous indifference of the Municipal authorities and the Mayor has led to the death of Mr. Khemchand, a teacher employed in a North corporation school in Chandni Chowk.

We share in the tragic sense of bereavement that Khemchand’s family continues to suffer from and urge the municipal authorities to immediately release the compensation and pension due to his widow.

We condemn the exploitative attitude of the municipal authorities and urge them to realise that putting the lives of 13,000 primary school-teachers at stake in this way not only leads to the undermining of the processes of teaching-learning but also results in the disruption of civic life and harmony. This attack on the dignity and well-being of teachers must stop immediately.