The government’s proposal to implement Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS) instead of Old Pension Scheme is strongly opposed by teacher unions.
In a statement on Tuesday, AP United Teachers’ Federation (UTF) State president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said in the “consultative” talks held with the representatives of the employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the government offered to instead, implement GPS, which was unacceptable to the federation.
The Ministers’ committee that held talks with the JAC leaders on the issue on Tuesday invited suggestions by the employees’ organisations. They said the federation leaders had insisted on implementation of the OPS in the meeting.
Criticising the government claim that employees’ pension would become a heavy burden to the government by 2100, they demanded that the Chief Minister fulfil his promise of implementing the OPS.
They demanded that the 10% of the salary being deducted towards CPS be stopped immediately, release of GO on increasing the retirement age of the aided school teachers to 62, settlement of pending PF loans and payment of the arrears of leave encashment.
Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF), meanwhile, reiterated that they would not settle on anything less than the Old Pension Scheme. They also demanded that the government drop its plan to merge classes in primary schools in high schools and allow both Telugu and English medium to continue.
The federation’s sub-committee met on Tuesday and resolved that it would launch 100-day-long protest from June 10 to build pressure on the government to address key issues in the education sector. They said there were anomalies in the 11th PRC, which the government should address immediately besides taking steps to fill the vacant teacher posts.
Federation general secretary K. Bhanu Murthy, leaders Syam Sundar Reddy, K. Ashok Kumar, A. Trinadh, K. Naga Someswaramma, N. Subramanyam and others were present.
