Teachers' wages not delayed, local govt says

The city government of Lu'an, Anhui province, said on Tuesday that there have been no delays in wages for the city's public school teachers.

The statement came after more than 40 teachers in Lu'an gathered at the city government offices on Sunday morning in protest of alleged wage delays. They also asked for annual performance bonuses.

There is no regulation promising annual performance bonuses to teachers in the city's Jin'an and Yu'an districts, the local government said in a statement.

"The two districts have paid full salaries on time to all teachers in primary and secondary schools," it said. "Some police officers were acting in an oversimplified and crude way in discouraging the gathering."

It added that the city government is looking into any possible misconduct by the police and will hold violators accountable.

According to a statement released by the city's public security bureau on Sunday, some teachers refused to follow officers' directions to leave the scene and seriously disrupted public order.

After repeated appeals, the police removed some teachers and took them to the public security bureau as provided by law, it said, adding that the teachers were picked up by school officials before 3 pm.

The Teacher's Law stipulates that the average salary of public school teachers may not be lower than that of local public servants.