Thousands of aided higher secondary school (HSS) teachers across the State are worried over the delay in release of their salary for the month of January. Officials in the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education, however, claimed on Monday that the amount was expected to reach their accounts by February 10.
Functionaries of the Kerala Aided Higher Secondary Teachers’ Association (KAHSTA) claimed that the delay was due to the ongoing cross-verification of their service records with the newly launched service data software.
“This process had started after January 15. There is a possibility of mismatch in the records and it will have to be corrected. It is learnt that the salary can be processed only after the verification is over,” K.K. Sreejesh Kumar, organising secretary, KAHSTA, told The Hindu.
There are around 11,000 teachers in 750 aided higher secondary schools in Kerala. The KAHSTA functionaries said teachers should not suffer because of technical delays.
Digitisation
Sources said the directorates of Higher Secondary Education, Vocational Higher Secondary Education, and Collegiate Education were the last ones to be included in the digitisation of salary disbursal. For higher secondary school teachers, the plan was to roll it out with the salary for January.
An official in the department claimed that though school authorities had been given directives to keep the data in order in 2018 itself, many documents and records were found to be not matching. The school authorities, however, pointed out that there were no clerical staff or office assistants in the higher secondary sections, and it was left to the respective Principal to do the job. Many teachers were unaware of the technical aspects as well.
“Earlier, Principals of higher secondary schools had to get all the salary bills counter-signed from the respective regional deputy director’s office. After completion of the digitisation,, the Principals can get it done online. But, all the information on teachers’ service records should be correct. There have been some mismatch, which are being cleared now. We expect to release the salaries by February 10,” a senior official in the directorate said on Monday.
