School Education department in the State capital has initiated action against 30 school teachers on strike for failing to join duty on Thursday after a warning was served to them on the previous day.

District Education Officer (DEO) CM Upadhyay informed that the department has sent the suspension letters of the teachers to Collector Nikunj Shrivastava for approval.

A delegation of teachers belonging to the Adhyapak Samvida Shishak Sanyukta Morcha met the Collector here and expressed its opposition to the administration’s move of taking action against only a few teachers.

Secretary of the teacher’s joint front Upendra Kaushal said, “We are against this move of the administration to take action against only a handful of teachers when we all are united in our struggle. Such move is definitely aimed at weakening the unity of the teachers.”

Meanwhile, the strike by different cadres of government schools teachers including adhyapakas, contract teachers and gurujis continued for the forth consecutive day across the state.

Notably, following its announcement in January this year, the State government had sanctioned on Wednesday revised pay band and cadre pay scale for the adhyapak cadre with effect from April 1 this year. Besides, the government had also announced that they will be given seniority from the date of appointment. This would lead to an increase in the salaries of the adhyapak cadre from Rs 2300 to 3500.

Besides this, the teachers would also be given relaxation in the upper limit of age for direct recruitment by the panchayat and urban self governance bodies who appoint them. The new upper limit of age will be 45 years.

The teacher’s body has, however, rejected the announcement by the State government. It has declared that the strike would not be called off until and unless the government implements all the demands of the teachers without any condition.

The teachers are demanding that they should be paid salaries equal to the permanent teachers employed under the school education department of the State government they are also demanding a merger in the department as they are currently employed by the local bodies.