Sept. 1: Dispur has asked the metropolitan administration to ensure the introduction of a uniform pay structure for teachers working in private schools here.
Official sources said the education department had acted upon the plea made by the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, (Seba) for uniform pay of teachers on the ground that majority of private schools pay the teachers poorly despite earning a profit.
The matter has been taken up seriously by the chief minister’s office also. Home commissioner B.K. Gohain has raised the matter several times and asked the administration to regulate the schools.
“Dispur is not saying that all schools are bad paymasters. But the disparity in salary of schoolteachers is creating a negative educational environment and there are instances of brilliant students leaving the profession of teaching out of frustration,” an official said.
He said the district administration would involve both ? school managements and schoolteachers ? to chalk out a “suitable” uniform salary structure formula. “When the fees structure of all private schools is same, why not the salary component?” he asked.
Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Samir Kumar Sinha said the administration was already on the job of school reforms and would soon send magistrates to various schools to settle the issue of poor payment to teachers.
He said it would be made mandatory for private schools to submit annual audit reports, balance sheets and salary structure of the teachers so that the administration can chalk out a formula for a uniform pay structure.
Seba has requested the government to ask the schools in the city to follow the pay structure for teachers followed by private schools in other metros.
The salary of teachers has not gone up for several years now. Teachers of junior classes get less than Rs 1,500 per month in some schools. The maximum salary of those teaching in higher classes does not cross Rs 3,000 in several schools.
Sources said according to the new plan, the minimum salary of teachers would be fixed at Rs 5,000 per month.
