Samagra Siksha staff to get wages for their strike period

Vijayawada:The state government has approved the payment of honorarium and remuneration to Samagra Shiksha contract and outsourcing employees, including those working in the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), for their strike period of 21 days.

The contract and outsourcing employees associated with Samagra Shiksha, including those in KGBVs, participated in the strike from December 20, 2023, to January 10, 2024, demanding an increase in their honorarium and remuneration.

The payment was made possible due to intervention by education minister Nara Lokesh. The government has classified the strike period as ‘Leave’, on condition that these employees must perform their duties for an equal number of holidays.

Following directions from Lokesh, school education department secretary Kona Sasidhar issued a memo to this effect on Monday. He advised the Samagra Shiksha state project director Srinivasa Rao to implement the order.

Subsequent to the strike, the government had raised their honorarium by 23 per cent, and a memo was released in January this year. However, the government clarified that the 23 per cent increase would only apply to employees whose wages had not been raised prior to 2019.

Following this, representatives from the Samagra Shiksha Contract and Outsourcing Federation met Minister Lokesh with a request that their wages for the 21-day strike period be paid.