With teachers announcing boycott of the HSC board practical exams starting from Thursday, the state Cabinet approved their demand of implementing the three-tier pay scale as per the Fifth Pay Commission, from January 1996.
Members of the Maharashtra Federation of Junior College Teachers’ Organisation had decided to stage a ‘jail bharo’ protest at Azad Maidan in South Mumbai if the cabinet meeting failed to bring about a positive result.
Their demands include implementation of three-tier pay scale from January 1996 and restoration of 42 days’ leave from 1999.
The cabinet decision is expected to benefit around 20,000 teachers in the state, an official said, after the cabinet meeting.
“We have been demanding for our rights for several years and this year too, we informed the state about our boycott months in advance. They had to wait till the very last day to take any decision,” said Anil Deshmukh, general secretary of the organisation.
Members of the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary School Principals’ Association met state education minister Rajendra Darda on Tuesday to discuss their demands.
The cabinet also approved the draft of the third state women’s policy which aims at ensuring measures for women’s development.
In another decision, aimed at providing relief to anganwadi workers who took out morchas and staged protest at Azad Maidan here for their demands, the state cabinet approved payment of Rs one lakh to kin of each deceased anganwadi worker. This measure will benefit around 2.06 lakh anganwadi workers in the state, the official said.
