Primary school teachers warn of statewide protests to press for demands in November

The Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers’ Federation announced that it would launch continuous Statewide protests in November if the State government failed to immediately address its long-pending charter of demands.

Several of the resolutions were passed during the federation’s State executive committee meeting held here on Sunday.

Prominent among the union’s demands were the correction of severe salary discrepancies plaguing secondary-grade teachers. Pointing out that educators at serial number 45 under Level 12 of the pay matrix have been denied annual increments for two years, the federation urged the government to extend the matrix scale up to serial number 50.

State general secretary S. Mayil noted that the association also strongly condemned the school education department’s decision to appeal favourable court judgments regarding selection and special-grade scale pay for retired headmasters. The union noted that this legal delay has left over 2,000 retired teachers stranded without their rightful pensionary benefits.

Further compounding educators’ frustrations were the ongoing disputes concerning higher education incentive pay, delays in implementing comprehensive retirement benefits, and demands to lower passing marks while granting weightage experience in the upcoming Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).

Teachers additionally pushed back against non-academic burdens, demanding that educators be relieved from duties related to the expanded student breakfast scheme to protect classroom teaching hours. They also called for the immediate cancellation of Government Order 243, which they argued severely restricts promotion avenues—particularly for female teachers—and demanded a thorough anti-corruption probe into alleged irregularities and bribe-seeking practices within the state audit department.

Rejecting the government’s proposal to form another investigative committee as a mere delaying tactic, the federation reaffirmed its stance. State leaders warned that unless a swift executive action is taken to resolve these livelihood issues and withdraw pending legal challenges against teachers, classrooms across Tamil Nadu will witness widespread protests starting this November.