Patiala, October 17
Thousands of teachers and staff in Punjab’s government-aided schools have not received salaries for seven months, prompting them to announce a protest in Tarn Taran on October 18, terming it a “Black Diwali” to highlight their plight against the state government’s inaction.
Gurmeet Singh Madnipur, State President, and Sharanjit Singh Kadimajra, State Secretary of the Punjab State Government-Aided Teachers and Other Employees Union, revealed that despite multiple meetings with Education and Finance Department officials, salary grants for these employees have been withheld since March 2025. They accused the government of delaying payments under the pretext of auditing school management, despite a shortage of section officers in the Education Department to conduct these audits. This marks the first time since 1967 that salary grants have been stalled for such reasons, raising concerns of a deliberate move to shut down aided schools.
The union leaders criticized the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging it has financially crippled employees, leaving them unable to celebrate festivals like Dussehra and Diwali. Madnipur described the salary delays as “inhumane treatment” and a severe injustice to the educated workforce teaching 1.76 lakh students in aided schools. He accused the government, which claims to champion an education revolution, of neglecting teachers’ basic financial needs despite repeated appeals to ministers and officials.
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Madnipur also called on the Human Rights Commission to hold the Punjab government accountable for the irregularities in salary disbursal. He warned that the teaching community’s frustration could impact the upcoming Tarn Taran by-election, holding the state government responsible for pushing educators to protest.
