Teachers in aided schools of Puducherry not paid since February

Teachers and non-teaching staff in aided schools across the Union Territory of Puducherry, including Karaikal, have not received their salaries since February.

According to the Karaikal Aided School Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff Association, salaries for over 200 serving and 400 retired personnel across 35 aided schools in the Union Territory are pending. This includes seven schools in Karaikal, one in Yanam, and 27 in Puducherry region. The financial strain has been particularly severe for those still in service, many of whom are paid out of fees collected in the absence of government support.

A senior teacher from Karaikal said: “In our school alone, there were once 55 teachers. Now only 12 remain and even they are paid through school management funds. The government has not filled vacancies for many years.”

Another teacher said she was the sole earning member of her family and was struggling to manage household expenses amid mounting debt. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to run a family with such irregular salaries. Whenever Class 10 or 12 results are poor, we are blamed. But when it comes to paying our salaries, no one is willing to even speak to us,” she said.

The association has urged the Puducherry government to disburse the pending salaries and address the systemic neglect in aided school recruitment and funding.

A senior official of the Education Department in Karaikal said they were expecting the salaries to be released by the end of this month.