Members of the Surat Shahar Manya Khangi Prathmik Shikshak Sangh assembled in front of Gandhibaug around noon and went in procession to the district collectorate where they submitted a memorandum to the district education officer, the district collector and the administrative officer of the Surat Municipal Corporation.

The teachers protest was prompted by a statement attributed to the DEO in a local newspaper according to which there was no mention of non-grant private primary schools in the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations.

However, DEO P Patel denied making any statement and said that the government may pass a separate resolution to cover private primary schools in the Fifth Pay Commission report. The delegation led by association president Deepak Patel declared that if the teachers were denied the pay hike they would take to the streets.

While teachers of schools run by the Nagar Prathamik Shikshan Samiti of the SMC are entitled to get the revised pay hike their counterparts from private schools are confused following publication of the statement.

The confusion has also been caused by the dual administration of primary schools; while the DEO is empowered to grant recognition all other decisions are taken by the administrative officer.

The memorandum alleged that the teachers and staff of these non-grant schools were exploited by the management. As many as 8,000 teachers are employed in about 290 such schools. While teachers alleged that recognition was granted by officials without carrying out any inspection, the DEO claimed otherwise.

The agitating teachers accuse officials of indulging in corruption and giving early recognition for monetary consideration. The memorandum alleged that some managements were playing with the future of children by closing the schools mid-term.

The association further alleged that some teachers were made to give their resignation letters under duress by private school managements as also by the Nagar Prathamik Shikshan Samiti. They alleged that despite complaints to the education officer and the civic officer no action was taken against erring schools.

Patel refuted the allegations that he was not investigating into charges of violation of Schedule F by managements, while recruiting teachers. He claimed ever since he had taken over he was very particular about giving recognition to schools.

The teachers hinted that the school managements might go for hike in fees if they were made to pay salaries according to the Fifth Pay commission recommendations. Those managements running their schools on profit motive should be dealt with sternly, the memorandum demanded. While the DEO claimed that he was able to convince the agitating teachers, the association said it won't settle for anything less than hiked payscale.