Hundreds of government primary school teachers, staged a hunger strike in Chennai, demanding equal wages for equal work. Members of the Tamil Nadu Seniority Second Grade Teacher Association arrived from various parts of the State to take part in the protest.

Rex Anandakumar, the state coordinator of the association, in a statement said that many candidates were paid a basic salary that was Rs 3,170 lesser than their counterparts who were appointed just a day earlier than them. “Candidates who were appointed on May 31, 2009 were allotted Rs 11,170, but candidates appointed on June 1, 2009 were allotted only Rs 8,000,” he said adding that there was no difference between the job description of these candidates.

“All we want is equal pay for doing equal work. We staged the hunger strike to get the government’s attention on the matter,” he said. The statement added that the government has repeatedly promised to look into the matter and but is yet to do so. T Elango, one of the district coordinators of the association said that around 17,000 teachers have been affected by this pay scale difference. 

“The sixth pay commission was implemented from April 1, 2009. Over 17,000 teachers have been appointed since,” he said. Elango added that in 2009 alone, over 3,000 appointments were made from June. These teachers are appointed in government schools across the State for teaching students from classes 1-5.