Indian society has held the teacher or “guru” in high regard from ancient times. The “guru” finds an important place in ancient scriptures as well. The tradition is so strong that Eklavya did not hesitate once in cutting off his thumb. Such high regard is because India has traditionally been a knowledge dominant society. Even the socio-religious reformers remarked the quintessence of Gurus in one’s life. They strongly asserted that all one knows – universe, soul and thy self can be attributed to Guru and Guru alone. However, it is important to note that the teaching community in Tamil Nadu today is not the same as it was in the past.
It is a known fact that the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the lives of all salaried people. But there is one salaried class that is withdrawing full salary with almost no work during this pandemic. In an attempt to control COVID-19, central government imposed curfew on March 24, 2020. Ever since the curfew was announced the government schools have remained shut. But the government has paid the salary of government school teachers on time until now. Is it fair to pay them their entire salaries without them doing any work? This is a question that any rational thinker would ask.
No one can deny the importance of school teachers in a society’s progress. But how is it fair that these teachers are paid in full without having to work while the whole state of Tamil Nadu is ravaged by a deadly disease and the government is cash-strapped?
Corona frontline warriors are still working on the ground today, unconcerned for their own safety amid the pandemic. Unlike sanitation workers, police officers, doctors, ambulance drivers, and nurses, who work day and night during a pandemic, government school teachers don’t have to sweat day long. Furthermore, as compared to the wages of sanitation workers, nurses, ambulance drivers, and police officers, government school teachers earn a very high salary. A head master of a government elementary school withdraws a monthly pay of more than ₹80,000.
When questioned how they can get paid without working, every government school teacher would tell you that they contributed their one-day salary to the COVID relief fund. However, a fundamental question arises. Is it sufficient to donate one day’s salary when they are paid for a year without working?
Besides that, if the government does not implement the 8th pay commission by the start of the next fiscal year, all of these teachers will become protesters, disrupting normal school operations and demanding pay increases with no regard to the student’s academic performance.
How can we expect teachers to help students who are socially and economically disadvantaged if they have this attitude?
The only solution to this problem is to have yearly appraisals for government school teachers, similar to what we have in private companies, and to relate pay and promotion to appraisal results. The standard of education provided to economically backward students in government schools would also improve. Unfortunately, no ruling party will have the political will to carry out the decision to have teacher evaluations in government schools.
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