Teacher’s Day 2023: A closer look at teachers’ lives, from No work-life balance to salary cuts
The UNESCO Report 2021 says, 42% of teachers were employed without a contract and made an average pay of less than Rs 10,000 per month.
“If God and my guru are present before me, I’ll first touch my guru’s feet because they have taught me who God is.” A beautiful quote by Kabir Das. One of the noble professions that is claimed to be able to foster and develop a nation’s future is teaching. Without educated teacher’s, a nation’s future is in jeopardy.
According to a teacher who works at a private school in Delhi, the concerns of the teachers have mostly remained the same and have gotten even worse. Sometimes, the ratio of student to teacher is also not maintained in a classroom maybe to earn profits, says Anita Singh, who works at a private school in Delhi. “In case of any mishap happens in class, they blame us,” she added.
A 2021 report by UNESCO stated that around 1.1 lakh schools in India are ‘single teacher entities’. The 2021 UNESCO report found that around 42 per cent of Indian teachers in both private and government were working without a contract and earning an average salary of under Rs 10,000 a month. The survey also revealed how horrible the situation is in private schools, where 69 per cent of instructors are employed without contracts, making them susceptible to job loss, pay reductions, deferred pay, and higher workloads.
Paid too little and neglected
Anita has been a licensed professional for 12 years, and she frequently thought that society frequently ignored the hard work that instructors put in. It became worse due to the pandemic. She is a primary school teacher’s day working with a reputed private school in Kolkata.
According to an article, “The first move on the part of school management was to cut salaries. Some teachers like me and staff were not paid for months and the dues remain. If we complained, we were asked to leave,” Anita confides on condition of anonymity.
“I found the profession very low-paying with a majority of teacher’s day in this school earning as high as Rs 20 thousand despite an experience of 9-10 years. Apart from academics, we are included in non-curricular activities as well. There is pressure from school administration to teach in a certain way,” said a teacher on the condition of anonymity.
Working conditions, Salary and compensation for teachers in private schools
A teacher from a Delhi private school quoted to News 18 that, for freshers in Delhi, the salary is as low as Rs 10,000. She further alleged that the school administration asked teachers to sign on the cheque with a higher pay to show that they are receiving a decent salary which is not the case. “I think the government should ask teacher’s day from different schools to verify whether they are receiving the amount. Without government supervision, private schools exploit and harass teachers,” she said.
A retired private teacher from Delhi’s Pitampura Shalini Singh said, “ In the Covid Pandemic, we were given 50 per cent of our salaries and now everything is open but our left-over salaries are not still credited.”
“School authorities give more priority to lesson plans. To match the deadline, we have to take the work home. It creates an additional burden as back home we have to do daily chores and look after children. There is no work-life balance,” claims a teacher from Haryana’s private school.
According to a report in 2021, The National Education Policy 2020 has laid fresh impetus on the importance of teachers in the education system. However, teachers continue to remain one of the lowest-paid public servants in the country.
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