UP madrasa teachers hit the streets over non-payment of salaries

On Teachers' Day, hundreds of 'madrasa' teachers in Uttar Pradesh protested over

non-payment of pending salaries for the last 30 months.

Hundreds of teachers gathered at Parliament Street here Wednesday and demanded that their pending salaries be paid.

At least 25,000 teachers have not been paid salary by the central government, they alleged.

In a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the religious school teachers raised concerns over

non-payment of salaries for the last 30 months.

"We are not being paid because we are teaching at madrasas. This is the discrimination of the BJP government," said Azaz Ahmad, head of Islamic Madrassa Modernisation Teachers' Association of India (IMMTAI).

 

Chaman Kamal, a member of IMMTAI, said they held a meeting with the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) on the issue.

The minorities body assured the teachers that it would raise the issue of non-payment of salary with Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar.

The teachers also demanded that their wages should be increased and free National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books be provided to madrasa students.