Nation’s future ransomed for peanuts

In spite of several attempts to increase their salaries in the past, teachers remain among the most badly paid of all professionals in the country. As a result, the number of applicants for teacher’s job, especially in speciality subjects, has started to come down. Further, teachers are forced to take on additional duties during elections, the census and polio drives. They must also finish their syllabi within the stipulated time. Shweta Shertukde finds that those entrusted to mould the nation’s future are disgruntled, unhappy and frustrated

I was wooed by the school management who promised me a pay package of Rs8,000 per month, but the joy was short-lived as every month I had to deposit Rs4,000 from my salary into the school account,”  says an aggrieved teacher. This is not a lone case; rather, it highlights the sorry state of affairs prevalent among the teaching fraternity.

With the meagre amount paid to them as salaries, today’s educated youth fails to choose teaching as a career option, courtesy the state government for turning a blind eye to improve the education system by revising the salaries of the teachers in the state-run and private-aided schools.

“Following the dearth of qualified youngsters willing to take up the teaching profession, the quality of education in schools across the state has been badly affected,” mourns Agnes Salian, Head Mistress of St. Anthony’s School, Malad.

“The managements of several schools are equally responsible for the sorry state of affairs. The managements pay a meagre salary ranging between Rs3,000 to Rs4,000, even to qualified teachers. There is a huge disparity in the payment of the teachers teaching in the primary section vis-à-vis the secondary section. Although, the primary section teachers bear the maximum burden of managing the students at a tender age and play an important role in moulding and adapting them to the educational environment,” adds Agnes Salian.

Many teachers told DNA that the situation has worsened in the last few years. Disgruntled over the treatment being out at the hands of the state government, teachers allege that they have been treated like beggars.

“The salaries paid to us are worse than the salary one pays to the domestic help. The government has stopped recognising the post of the teachers in schools, and is appointing them on contractual basis for a period of three years. Last year, the state government also scrapped the pension scheme for the teaching fraternity in private-aided schools,” alleges a teacher (on conditions of anonymity).

Educationists also speak about the dearth of teachers for subjects like Science, Mathematics, Economics and English. Mukund Andalkar, General Secretary of the Mumbai Teachers’ Union, said: “The number of students taking up subjects like Science, Mathematics and Economics for their graduate or post-graduate degrees is falling drastically as they refuse to work on the meagre salaries offered to them by the state government. This has resulted in the dearth of teachers teaching such important subjects. In several schools, unqualified teaching staff is appointed to teach the subjects, thereby affecting the quality of education.”

The picture is also not good when it comes to the appointment of new teachers and their pay package. Experts point out that teachers recruited for the private-aided and state-run schools in June 2002 had to go without salaries till June 2004, due to de-recognition of their post. Subsequently, 214 newly-recruited teachers in June 2003 received their payment in September 2006. While the 318 teachers recruited in June 2004 received their salaries in September 2006. It has also come to light that about 5,500 teachers in state-run schools across the state have not received even a month’s salary.

On the recent move of the state government to appoint the teachers under the three-year contract system, popularly called as “Para-Teachers” or “Shikshak Sewaks”, teachers say that this clearly shows the state government’s apathy towards them. “The teachers are paid about Rs3,000 per month for three years. Their service is regularised after three years and then they start getting a salary close to Rs11,000. Presently, over 5 lakh teachers across the state work as Shikshak Sewaks,” said Ramesh Joshi, General Secretary of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Shikshak Sabha.

Further the teachers in various schools also talk about the work-load they have to bear, as compared to their salary. A teacher from a private-aided city school grumbles, “We are paid a paltry sum of Rs1.75 for correcting a 100-marks exam paper, while the moderator gets Rs2 per paper for re-checking. We painstakingly correct 25 papers in a day. The exploitation doesn’t end here. We are paid Rs15 to supervise an exam, peanuts by any standards.”

“After putting in eight hours of rigorous work daily, we also carry the pending work home. This work schedule does not include the time allotted for conducting practicals for the higher classes. Besides, the scanty amount paid as salary, the government also provides Rs200 per year as medical benefits,” said another teacher (on conditions of anonymity).

To add to their burden, is the work involved with election and the census. “The teachers have to comply with all this and also complete the syllabus in the shortest possible time. They are given a petty amount of Rs50 as a day’s allowance for performing these duties. We have been successful in relaxing such duties for the teachers attached to the BMC schools, but for the teachers attached to the state-run and private-aided schools the scene is bad,” says Ramesh Joshi.

The teachers also allege that they have not benefited from the Fifth Pay Commission and so have no faith in the upcoming Sixth Pay Commission.

Following huge disparity in the salary earned by a government servant and the teacher, several teachers have taken up private tuitions and earn close to Rs300 per hour. “With the coaching classes paying hefty pay packages to the teachers — thus utilising their teaching ability to the fullest — almost 70-80 per cent of the teachers take up the job as private tutors. The teacher who earns Rs8,000 a month can earn Rs8,000 a week by taking private tuitions. In coaching classes, a teacher is paid Rs200 to Rs1,000 per hour,” said Milind Chowksi, Principal of Mahesh Tutorials (Malad branch).

“The payment that teachers receive in coaching classes is purely for teaching and does not involve any administrative work. While, in schools the teachers are paid a meagre amount, even though they put-in so many hours for teaching and administrative work.”

One may tend to think that the situation is better in the case of teachers working in unaided schools.

Teachers of these schools however feel that although these schools — affiliated to different boards — collect hefty fees from their students, very little goes in for the teachers’ salary.

“The managements of a few schools have suggested that teachers take up private tuitions of the students studying in the same school, to add to their income,” says a teacher (who does not wished to be named) in an ICSE-affiliated school located in central Mumbai.

But the authorities attached to these unaided schools claim that they are good pay masters as compared to the state-run or private aided schools. Kusum Kanwar, Head of the Research and Development Department and Head of the Quality Assurance and Guidance Cell at

Kangaroo Kids Education Limited, said: “National boards like the ICSE and international boards like IGCSE, IB (International Bacculerate) do not provide affiliation to a school unless the school management pays the amount stipulated by the board to their teaching staff. Their pay package includes the salary, as per the Fifth Pay Commission and the amount stipulated by the Board.”