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The Gujarat government has invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act against 5,500 government-aided secondary and senior secondary school employees as their indefinite strike entered the tenth day on Friday, paralysing the education system.
The state government on Thursday night invoked the ESMA provisions following failure of its efforts to persuade the striking employees to end their stir.
The teachers and non-teaching staff have been demanding vehicle allowance from April 1998 and pay scale on par with central government employees among other things.
The state government has issued notices to several schools to resume teaching immediately and had also claimed that out of the 5,500 schools 1,500 schools have reopened.
However, the Gujarat teachers organisation spokesman Ashok Shahthe claimed the strike would continue irrespective of ESMA invocation.
He said, "If the government resorts to pressure tactics, we will be forced to commit immolation."
He also said that notices of ESMA would be burnt publicly.
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