Around 200 contractual employees working on project-based assignments at the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) headquarters in New Delhi have not received their salaries for the past four months, leaving many under severe financial stress and forcing them to borrow money, default on loan repayments and struggle to pay rent, children’s school fees and other household expenses. A view of a classroom at a government school. (Reuters File) The affected employees are engaged under Project Approval Board (PAB)-approved programmes funded by the Union education ministry. Working across different NCERT departments, they are involved in school education initiatives under Samagra Shiksha, including digital education programmes such as DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), PM e-VIDYA (Pradhan Mantri Electronic Vidya), Jaadui Pitara and other NCERT projects. Employees, requesting anonymity for fear of retaliation, told HT that the prolonged salary delay had placed them under immense financial burden. “I manage my entire family’s expenses. I have a home loan EMI and also send money to my mother every month. Because my salary has not come …