Mumbai teachers protest "abrupt" stoppage of salaries

Mumbai: Over 150 teachers from Marathwada region are staging a protest here since June 25, to demand Maharashtra government`s intervention after salaries of 235 teachers in aided schools were abruptly stopped in January last year.

"We were informed that our salaries have been stopped as the government authorities deemed some divisions in the school were illegal," Santosh Suryawanshi of the Latur Jilha Shikshak Bachav Kriti Samiti told reporters here. "We have approached state Education Minister Rajendra Darda to resolve the issue and ensure that we start getting our salaries once again," he said. The affected teachers are from schools in Latur district. "It is not our mistake that certain divisions were deemed "excess" than the stipulated strength. The education officer who had earlier verified the divisions and students` strength is to blame for the mess. "However, instead of taking action against him, he has been promoted," Suryawanshi said. Samiti leader Manoj Shinde died while the teachers were on way to Nagpur to meet concerned officials during the winter session of state Legislature last year, he said.