While the government has conceded revised scales on the basis of the Sukhtankar Committee's recommendations, the teachers are demanding more. Their quarrel with the committee was that secondary school teachers (80 per cent of junior colleges in the state are attached to secondary schools) were given an increase amounting to more than what was recommended for them. Also the committee's recommendation is less than that of the Fifth Pay Commission.

Though the central government has cleared the Pay Commission's recommendations, the state government, which is not obliged to follow suit, says it cannot concede the amount.

However, the catch is though the teachers are denouncing the Sukhtanker committee report, they have calculated their demands on the basis of the very same document. Consequently, the quantum amounts to more than what the Fifth Pay Commission had originally recommended. This would also place them on par with the degree college teachers as per University Grants Commission's scales, which the state government cannot afford, according to a senior government official.

However, the striking teachers say they will not call off their agitation this time around while the government simply pretends the problem does not exist. Through the series of meetings teachers' unions have held with Education Minister Sudhir Joshi and his deputy Anil Deshmukh, the senior minister's one-liner echoes: ``Since the Cabinet has taken a decision, I cannot start any dialogue with the teachers till they call off their strike.''

Till the agitation is called off, Joshi reiterates, the government will not concede an inch. ``Otherwise, tomorrow some other organisation will take the cue and launch similar strikes to pressure for their demands,'' he explains.

With the unions and the government completely polarised, uncertainty and panic have gripped Std XII students, whose all-important Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination is only weeks away.

At least one union leader spoke to the government immediately after the Cabinet decision in October last year, when the state government approved the Sukhtankar Committee's scales. However, with no consensus, the Maharashtra Federation of Junior College Teachers' Organisations issued a notice on November 3 declaring a token strike on November 30 and an indefinite strike from December 10. Yet, Joshi claims he was not aware of the strike all this while. In any case, ``why did they have to go on strike before seeing the Government Resolution (GR) on this issue,'' he asks, referring to the December 10 GR increasing salaries in keeping with the Sukhtankar Committee recommendations.

On the flipside, if the teachers' demands are accepted this could coax every section of teachers to demand salary increases on par with their seniors, says A R Tambe, general secretary of the Mumbai Sikshak Sanghatana (which represents 500 trusts runing schools and colleges). ``Though I have nothing against the junior college teachers' demands, these are equivalent to the salaries of degree college teachers. If they are accepted, secondary school teachers will demand salaries on par with their junior college counterparts. And why not, after all, they work much more than junior college teachers'' he says.

This would trigger a cascading effect, with primary teachers and senior college teachers demanding a raise on par with their superiors, he adds. Apart from a crisis for the government, managements of private educational institutions would also have to pay their teachers more since as per a Supreme Court order their scales would have to match the others.

Automatically, fees would be raised and the onus would fall on students. However, the government would then have to contend with protests from parents, who have grown increasingly vociferous of late.

Still, a compromise settlement can be reached if the teachers are lofty enough to call off their agitation and prepare for a dialogue. Instead, both the government and the unions are preoccupied with flexing their muscles and nurturing ego tussles, even though the HSC exam is only weeks away.