Kochi: Specialist teachers appointed on a contract basis in government schools are struggling to make ends meet with their meagre salaries. They receive a paltry salary of Rs 10,000 a month from the Central funds for the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan — an integrated school education scheme. The take-home pay is Rs 8,800 after the Provident Fund contribution is deducted.
Even those teachers who work in schools under a daily-wage agreement get better salaries. Specialist teachers in aided schools too have much better pay.
In Kerala, there are over 1,000 such specialist teachers who were drafted for physical education as well as for imparting education on arts and providing work experience. The recruitments have been made as part of the Samagra Shiksha, Kerala, programme for promoting integrated education from pre-nursery to Class 12.
An amount of Rs 28,500 was fixed as their pay when they were appointed in 2016. They received this salary for about a year. Later, however, their salaries were slashed to Rs 7,000.
The pay was slashed stating that the Centre had cut funds for paying specialist teachers after the Samagra Sikha Abhiyan was launched. The State government then stepped in to contain the situation by paying another Rs 7,000 to the teachers. But this was given to teachers in only 300 schools.
The Centre increased the pay by Rs 3,000 last April. However, by then the State government had stopped giving its share. While there were 2,800 specialist teachers in 1,016, after the pay was slashed, the number of teachers went down to 1,500. Those who are unable to take up any other job are continuing in the teaching posts.
High Court order
The High Court of Kerala has ordered that specialist teachers should be paid on the lines of the Uttar Pradesh model. If the order is implemented, the teacher will get Rs 35,000 as salary. But the Kerala government has not taken any action to implement the verdict.
Though the State Specialist Teachers’ Union submitted memorandums to the Minister for Education and Finance Minister, drawing their attention to the issue, there has been no action till now.
The teachers are planning to picket the office of the Samagra Siksha, Kerala, office on November 25 to press their demands.