Private-aided school teachers still pension-less

Mumbai: More than 70 private-aided school teachers working under the BMC have not received their pensions for the past 10 years. According to the teachers, civic officials who manage their documents and other legalities keep on changing, because of which the procedure is never fully complete. BMC’s education committee chairperson Shubhada Gudekar however said that the number is not 70 but as big as over 700.

 The civic education committee has promised to look into the matter by appointing staff from the “toll” section to ease pressure on the manpower-starved finance department of the corporation.

Anand Kumar, a teacher and vice-president, Mumbai Shikshan Sangh, said, “There are around 90 to 100 teachers who have not got their pension since ages. If you check the records, a majority of them would belong to private-aided schools as BMC treats us like outsiders.”

Asked about the situation with aided and civic schools, he said, “All BMC school teachers get their pensions and other allowances after two months of quitting their jobs. However, in our situation, we have been without pension since so many years.”

Asked why teachers’ pensions had not been cleared, Gudekar said, “BMC lacks staff, especially in the finance department. Hence, it is really difficult to manage such a huge number.”

Asked for a solution, Gudekar said “I have recently appointed around 20 to 30 staff members from toll nakas who are good at finance, accounting and calculations. We are confident that hereon they will give teachers their pensions on time.”