Teachers marginalised in Pvt Schools, paid just half of the salaries offered to bus drivers

Srinagar: Teachers in private sector feel marginalised as they are not praised for their role in generating spirit of competition among the students of all age groups despite the fact that they are not being paid wells also .Teachers in private schools are facing exploitation similar in nature to the exploitation suffered by manual labourers in Industrial sector, and yet very few people realise the extent and scale of this exploitation.
Though our private school sector is thriving, and with one time investment on building construction and running costs of staff salaries, but records speak themselves that private schools are making mammoth profits. Private schools have seen growth in our society like no other business activities as many chains of schools have emerged with an ever increasing number of branches and with ever increasing wealth of the owners of these enterprises. This lucrative business of education has made some people obscenely rich by turning this service of education into a commodity.
Fee in private schools isbeing increased at an astronomical scale but teachers serving in these schools have been reduced to the status of salesmen of some products. This is an open secret in our society that our teachers are exploited by the private sector in the worst possible way. Even in the most expensive schools a teacher’s monthly salary is less than the monthly fee paid by a single student. A very high percentage of our private sector teachers are dissatisfied with their working conditions, low perks, lack of say in academic matters and subjugation before autocratic administration. What matters the most is that Private school teachers have no job security in most private schools even in the most prestigious ones. They can be easily fired or dismissed for frivolous reasons or no reason at all. Teachers are often fired by most private schools just before the long summer or winter vacations only to save expenses despite the fact that schools charge and receive fees in advance for these vacations. This most unethical and exploitative practice has become a norm and a trick of the trade in the private sector education. If we go by the version of the private school teachers, the majority of them are paid Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 per month but drivers running the buses for ferrying students to these schools get monthly salarly of not less than Rs 12000/-. Only a few schools not comprising more than three percent of the total private schools pay above Rs 20000 or Rs 25000 to a private school teacher per month. The most eye-opening feature revealed by a private teacher was that of a non teaching staff that includes school divers who get more than double of the salaries of professional teachers. Besides Private schools preferentially hire female teachers not because they are on a mission of women empowerment, but because women in Kashmir are available for teaching jobs at a nominal remuneration.
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. UNESCO’s recent State of the Education Report for India 2020, found that 42 per cent of the teachers across private and government sectors in India were working without a contract and earning an average salary under Rs 10,000 a month. Only 8 per cent of teachers have contracts spanning between one and two years. The problem is very severe in private schools where as much as 69 per cent are working without contracts, leaving them without any benefits and vulnerable to unemployment without notice, salary cuts, inhuman working conditions or deferred pay.
The average monthly household consumption expenditure for all teachers is estimated to be Rs 14,276, meaning that most teachers need to supplement their teaching professions with other jobs to make a living.
The issue of fees charged by the private schools and the salary paid to the teachers was discussed in a meeting chaired by then J&K Lieutenant Governor, G C Murmu to review the functioning of the education department. In the meeting G C Murmu had desired to explore the possibility to provide one-time assistance to the needy private school teachers based on the details of the fee charged by such schools as provided by these institutions but the irony is that till date nothing has been done to implement the decision on ground. The Government headed by incumbent Lt Governor , Manoj Sinha is yet to frame a much needed service structure in private schools to guarantee a respectable wages, job security and old age benefits to teachers in the private sector.