Government school teachers in Chennai, who have been protesting against the Tamil Nadu government for more than a week demanding better and equal pay, along with permanent jobs, were detained on October 5, Thursday. Senior All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader and former minister D Jayakumar has criticised Chief Minister MK Stalin over the matter.

"Teachers who have been protesting for the past nine days have been detained by the police as per government orders. The DMK made an election promise to provide jobs to teachers who cleared the TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) exam, but this promise has not yet been fulfilled. The actions of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister are against democracy," Jayakumar alleged, as per a report by ANI.

Over 1,000 teachers have been detained. Jayakumar further added, "In the upcoming TN Assembly session, our leader, Edappadi K Palaniswami, will raise this issue concerning teachers." He met the detained teachers, who are being kept in a hall in Chennai Triplicane.

The teachers have been protesting at the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) campus. They are demanding equal pay for equal work, and those working as temporary teachers are demanding permanent jobs. The TET 2013 qualified aspirants are demanding jobs from the state government, as per ANI.