As per the new scales implemented by the Pondicherry Administration, those who teach Tamil in schools are eligible for a hike of Rs 200 in their basic salary, compared to those teaching other languages like Hindi, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Arabic.

Moreover, the Tamil language teachers are also entitled to get salary arrears between Rs 40,000 and 60,000 as the new scale has been implemented with retrospective effect from 1992.

Apart from this, the Pondicherry Administration has banned the government language teachers, excluding those teaching Tamil, in the Pondicherry schools from applying for passports.

``The Ministry of Education is favouring the Tamil language teachers in violation of the Article 14 and 15 of theConstitution which insists on equal wages for the same work,'' say leaders of the Language Teachers Confederation.

The Confederation has been spearheading an agitation against the linguistic discrimination of the Pondicherry Administration since September last when the administration ignored the Education Ministry order to equate the salary of language teachers with that of Tamil language teachers.

The new scale has been implemented as per a government order. According to union leaders, the order said that Education Ministry of Pondicherry has decided to hike the salary of all language teachers employed in Pondicherry schools with effect from 1992.

They said that as per the revised scale all language teachers were entitled to get a hike of Rs 200 each in their basic pay. However, when the order was implemented only Tamil teachers got the benefit.

According to union leaders, those teaching Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Sanskrit in Pondicherry schools have been subjected to severe discriminationand neglect. Teachers with M Phil having 10 to 15 years of service are not made permanent just because they are not teaching Tamil, they said.

The union leaders are planning to move the Madras High Court against the linguistic discrimination of the Pondicherry Administration.