North Delhi Municipal Corporation teachers demand salaries, threaten strike

The teachers’ associations of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation are threatening to go on strike if their salary dues are not cleared before August 16. Surprisingly, even though the teachers have approached the High Court with their grievances, their pending salaries have yet to be cleared.

While more than 5,000 teachers — who were on COVID duty — had been paid their April salaries in July, the remaining over 3,000 teachers were not paid any salary. When the High Court intervened, they were paid their salaries at the end of July. However, the teachers have no clue as to when the pending salaries for May, June and July will be cleared.

The teachers have now decided to stop taking online classes with effect from August 16.

Earlier, the teachers’ association had planned to discontinue online classes with effect from August 6. However, when the plan was announced,the mayor of the North Corporation had assured on social media that the pending salaries for April and May would be cleared within ten days or so.

While the teachers claim that the April salaries have been credited only on August 5 and that there is no sign of the May salaries, the North Corporation mayor claims that the salaries for teachers, doctors, nurses and other staff for the month of May have already been released.

According to North Corporation officials, the teachers are required to only put in less than two hours of work, which involves sending worksheets to students and evaluating their work; and that during this crisis, if they fail to put in that much effort, their salaries will be deducted.