Once the refuge of graduates who couldn’t land a job in any other white collar vocation, primary-secondary teaching has undergone a sea change: Swati Roy

There are an estimated 9 million teachers employed in the country’s 1.4 million primary-secondary schools. Despite this, according to the Delhi-based RTE Forum, there’s a shortage of 500,000 school teachers countrywide. Even as the demand for qualified teachers is on the rise, the noble profession of teaching — once the refuge of timeservers who couldn’t land a job in any other white collar vocation — has undergone a sea change in terms of greater social prestige and better remuneration packages.

The first step to upgrade the status of the teachers’ community was taken by the Union government’s Sixth Pay Commission (SPC), 2008 which sharply raised the pay-scales of teachers in Central government schools by 100 percent with retrospective effect from 2006, forcing state governments and top-ranked private schools to follow suit. Consequently, SPC salaries prescribed for primary teachers in Delhi in the Rs.23,000-30,000 per month bracket have become the new benchmark for government and private schools countrywide.

Moreover, even as teachers’ pay in the country’s 1.10 million government schools was substantially enhanced by SPC, the emergence of upscale new-genre five-star international schools in post-liberalisation India has transformed K-12 teaching into an attractive career option. Defined by globally benchmarked infrastructure and affiliation with offshore examination boards such as IBO, Geneva and CIE, UK, the country’s estimated 600 international schools are paying top dollar for qualified and well-trained teachers.

Study programmes

To qualify as a K-12 school teacher, a first degree topped with professional teacher training certification is required. Full-time two-year B.Ed study programmes are offered by several Central and state universities countrywide including the Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Calcutta and Annamalai universities with the latter offering a popular distance (correspondence) programme. The Indira Gandhi National Open University, Jamia Milia Islamia Centre for Distance and Open Learning and Karnataka State Open University, among others also offer B.Ed through correspondence. Check out the National Council of Teacher Education website (www.ncte-india.org) which provides a detailed list of recognised institutions offering B.Ed programmes.

With the Sixth Pay Commission prescribing Rs.23,000-30,000 per month for primary teachers in all Central government schools, state governments and private schools have had to sharply increase teachers’ pay. A primary school teacher in a CISCE/CBSE-affiliated day school can expect Rs.25-30,000 per month, trained graduate teachers in middle school Rs.30-40,000 and senior school teachers Rs.40-80,000. Moreover, the Seventh Pay Commission has recommended a 23 percent increase payable with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.

Professional profile

“High-quality teachers are critical to improving learning outcomes and standards in school education. Not only have pay scales risen substantially in government and private schools, in terms of professional development, teachers are being given multiple opportunities to learn continuously. Consequently, the teaching profession is an exciting vocation for those who want to become lifelong learners,” says Ashok Pandey, a well-respected educationist and incumbent principal of the CBSE-affiliated Ahlcon International School, Delhi (estb. 2001).

A physics postgrad of Allahabad University, Pandey began his career as a teacher in Rotary Public School, Gurgaon (1983-86) followed by stints as senior teacher at Mayo College, Ajmer (1986-1991), co-coordinator at the Indian Embassy School, Saudi Arabia (1991-97), assistant director of Amity International School, Noida (1997-99), and founder-principal of Delhi Public School, Jammu, before taking charge at Ahlcon International in 2003. In 2012, he received the President’s National Award for Best Teacher.

“Teaching requires a passion for nurturing children and a strong commitment to continuous lifelong learning. The job of contemporary teachers goes a long way — much beyond teaching the 3R’s — to developing cognitive skills and igniting the minds of the country’s future leaders. This profession offers the emotional satisfaction of shaping young children into confident adults, an invaluable perk. Therefore, for those with a dedication for developing human resources, teaching is a challenging and rewarding career,” says Pandey, who has a number of professional accolades on his mantelpiece including an Understanding Research Methods diploma from London University and Teaching in 21st Century certificate from Coursera. 

Clearly, Pandey is a lifelong learner.