Teachers' Day: Most teachers get a pittance for pay

NEW DELHI: Teacher's Day was never so big, ever since it was designated as such, back in 1962. That's because of the planned address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to thousands of school children. But, what about the teachers who will gather their flock for the big day? Nearly 43% of school teachers in India are now working under privately managed schools. That's about 4.2 million teachers, of which 3.1 million teach in elementary schools (classes 1 to 8) and the remaining 1.1 million in secondary and senior secondary schools. While government school teachers get pay scales ranging between Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month depending on their level of qualification and experience, most of the private school teachers survive on a pittance. TOI investigated the condition of private school teachers' in several states and found many working on salaries as low as Rs 2000 per month. In Delhi, a school teacher in East Delhi, who insisted that her name not be revealed because she may be thrown out of her job, said her official salary is Rs 28,000 per month but she actually gets Rs 20,000. "I get a cheque for Rs 28,000 and I give back Rs 8,000 in cash every month," she said. Another teacher has recently quit her job after the small primary school she was working in was taken over by a school chain. She used to earn a maximum of Rs 3,000 per month, after putting her signatures on blank vouchers and registers. In Varanasi, government school teacher Anita Kumari told TOI that she gets about Rs 30,000, as she is senior with nearly 20 years service experience. But in private schools, everything is "negotiable". "They can start with just Rs 2,000, and go up to Rs 10,000," she says. "It depends on what kind of management it is, and how badly she needs the money." P V Rajsekhar a private school teacher in Kurnool, said that he earns Rs 9,000 per month. Most teachers in private schools get similar salaries, he said. The big private schools in cities probably do not indulge in such shenanigans but throughout the country, small private schools treat their teachers — and students, as a result — in this way. It is not surprising that the teaching profession is no longer attracting the best talent. In government schools located in rural areas, absenteeism is a huge problem. There have been several reports — from as far apart as Uttaranchal and Odisha — of teachers out-sourcing their jobs to proxies and splitting the salary. According to a report prepared under the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) by NUEPA, a quarter of teachers in private unaided schools are not even professionally qualified to become teachers. In unrecognized schools, of which the number is unknown and probably runs into thousands, only about 42% teachers are professionally qualified. This is in contrast to private aided schools where 91% teachers have the requisite professional qualification. In government schools such teachers make up 83% of all teachers. Many experts believe that the chaotic state of affairs in teachers' training, with the mushrooming of private teachers training colleges with limited facilities and vision have led to a flood of teachers who are ill prepared to teach students.   TOI