An October 3 government circular asking private schools in the state to disclose salary payments made to their teachers, has sent the managements of Karnataka’s 19,593 unaided private K-12 schools into a tizzy. A decade after the state government made it mandatory for unaided private schools to pay their teachers a minimum monthly salary of Rs.13,600, the issue is back to haunt them. 

Although a noble profession, teaching is not lucrative for private school teachers particularly in the state’s private budget schools (PBSs), many of them unrecognised by the state government — which have mushroomed as a market response to dysfunctional government schools and where teachers are paid as little as Rs.5,000-10,000 per month. On the other hand, despite their abysmal performance, which is driving children of even poorest households to PBSs, government school teachers’ remuneration as per the Fifth Pay Commission is Rs.13,600-26,700 for elementary school (I-VIII), and Rs.17,650-32,000 in secondary school.

Though way back in 2006 a government order (GO) required private school teachers to be given pay parity with government schools, the GO was ignored by most private schools, especially the state’s 14,000 PBSs. Now with the exodus from government schools showing no signs of abating, the state’s neta-babu brotherhood has hit upon pay parity with government schools as a new stick to beat PBSs with. 

“Equal work, equal pay is a democratic principle which satisfies the constitutional values of justice and equity. The morale of the teachers community as a whole has to be maintained to attract high quality college and university graduates into teaching. Therefore, the representative associations of private schools which are so active in filing court cases, should collectively prescribe a minimum wage for their teachers. To pay far below government school wages is exploitation, which is tarnishing the image of private schools that impose a heavy load on teachers while paying them rock-bottom wages. I’m not in favour of government prescribing private school teachers’ remuneration. I believe private schools should collectively prescribe minimum teachers’ pay in their institutions in their own long-term interest,” says Dr. A.S. Seetharamu, hitherto professor of education at the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore.

Maya Menon, founder-director of The Teacher Foundation, a not-for-profit engaged in teacher training and development, agrees. “The single most important factor that influences student achievement in schools is the quality of teachers. They need to be motivated and private schools need to invest in them as a school is only as good as its teachers. Paying them respectable wages will improve the societal standing of private schools and help them attract high quality talent,” she says. 

However, private budget school managements don’t agree and are quick to express their resentment to the October 3 GO. “Admittedly we pay teachers less than they are paid in government schools because we can’t run up huge annual deficits. Our objective is to provide good quality education to children from the economically weakest sections of society. The Fifth Pay Commission minimum pay prescribed is Rs.13,600 for primary teachers which is more than the annual tuition fees levied by some of our member schools. Any major increase in our teachers’ bill would force us to increase tuition fees and make many of our schools unaffordable for poorest households. On the one hand, the government wants us to raise teachers’ pay and on the other, it wants to regulate tuition fees of private schools. Clearly, the purpose of the government is to force closure of PBSs. The government should mind its own business,” says D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools, Karnataka, which has a membership of 4,000 schools, mainly PBSs. 

Shashi Kumar’s tuition fees regulation reference is to the Karnataka Education (Second) Amendment Bill 2017, passed by the legislature to provide a fee formula for private unaided schools to follow. 

Nevertheless, the state government is adamant about ensuring Fifth Commission pay parity for all private school teachers. “Admittedly any increase in teachers’ pay would mean an increase in school fees. Yet, paying minimum wages to teachers is the rule here in the state and it must be respected. We will chart out a proper action plan. There are various provisions in the Karnataka Education Act that can be used to find a solution. We have to find a solution which is acceptable to private schools,” says P. Zafar, commissioner, department of public instruction. 

Sruthy Susan Ullas (Bangalore)