Assisted college teachers organize protest, demand payment of outstanding salaries

MUTA (Madurai Kamaraj University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Mother Teresa Women’s University and Alagappa University) and the All University Teachers Association (AUT) jointly organised a street protest near Arappalayam on Saturday, demanding immediate payment of outstanding salaries of associate professors working in grant-aided colleges.

AT Senthamarai Kannan, chairman of MUTA, said despite several protests, the demands of the speakers did not reach the Tamil Nadu government.

While the state government had paid salaries and arrears of teachers working in all universities and government colleges in Tamil Nadu, following a GO issued by the Department of Higher Education, the salaries of teachers in aided colleges had not yet been notified, he added.

Pointing out the disparity in payment of outstanding salaries to grant-aided teachers in Coimbatore and Thanjavur districts, he said the reasoning behind leaving out some districts was questionable. “The government’s excuse that there was a shortage of funds was not true as around ₹200 crore was returned to the Finance Department as unspent in the last fiscal (2023-24).”

About 275 protesters, 166 men and 109 women, were arrested by police in the morning and released in the evening.