Temporary school teachers face uncertainty as three months go by without salary

Thiruvananthapuram: As many as 12,000 temporary teachers working in schools remain in limbo even as Onam season approaches. Although three months of the academic year have passed, none of them have received salary. The reason for this is that the Directorate of General Education (DGE) delayed the proceedings of adding the details of temporary teachers in the payroll software ‘Spark’.

The Education department recommended that the district education offices be entrusted with this instead of the DGE, but the Finance department did not agree to this proposal citing technical issues related to ‘Spark’. The Finance department has issued instructions to solve this problem immediately by appointing more officers in the DGE. However, whether or not these teachers will receive salary before Onam remains uncertain.

Previously, the teachers’ information was usually added publicly to Spark and they receive salary regularly. However, this year onwards, the respective departments need to transfer the details of staff to Spark. 

The DGE has not been able to upload the details even as three months have passed. Their explanation is that it takes over 15 minutes to upload a person’s credentials and hence the delay.

As complaints garnered strength, Minister V. Sivankutty intervened and advised the district offices to facilitate the uploading of credentials along with the DGE.

Instead of heeding the Education department’s demand, the DGE cited technical difficulties and demanded more workforce. Sources from the Finance department told ‘Mathrubhumi’ that an order was issued in this regard the previous day. Nevertheless, since there is no deadline specified, teachers will not receive salary unless all the required documentation is completed in Spark.