Teachers’ body complains to CEO over unequal pay, mismanagement

The teachers’ body contended that the teachers became “pendulum between strong room and reception counters” adding that while carrying “heavy cases of election material” some of them lost their belongings.

The Delhi government school teachers’ body on Wednesday wrote to the Delhi Chief Election Officer (CEO) and complained over a host of issues faced by teachers during polling such as mismanagement, unequal pay and lack of conveyance.

Teachers had been carrying material over their heads and two of them even fainted in front of us. This led to a delay and we left the centres at 2am (HT Photo)

Saying that the process for depositing EVMs and VVPATs “created total chaos”, the Government School Teachers Association (GSTA) wrote, “Several polling personnel, especially lady officers, got hurt in the extreme situation of confusion.”

The teachers’ body contended that the teachers became “pendulum between strong room and reception counters” adding that while carrying “heavy cases of election material” some of them lost their belongings.

A Hindi teacher from a government school in northeast , who said she had worked in at least ten elections, revealed, “There was one counter for submission of EVM and VVPAT for all of northeast which led to chaos near the staircase. Teachers had been carrying material over their heads and two of them even fainted in front of us. This led to a delay and we left the centres at 2am”

The teacher, on the condition of anonymity, said that the process to deposit material was delayed due to mismanagement and the sector officers were not briefed properly. “Since the process was delayed, food and refreshments served to teachers were stale and not fir for consumption,” she added. The association added that the polling parties were not even provided tea at the polling station by the EC.

GSTA also raised the issue of unequal wages among different teachers. “All the polling parties performed same work for same period but the amount they paid was different. At some Assembly Constituencies, it was ₹6000, at others it was ₹7,200 and at some other it was only ₹5200,” the body wrote in its letter.

Another complaint by the association was the lack of conveyance. “It was very risky especially for women walking on the capital’s roads. Who was responsible if some mishappening occurred with them?,” it read.