Wednesday 14 January 2009

Bihar teachers get salary less than peons

According to DNA, Bihar teachers get salary less than peons!

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1221382

Is it any surprise that Bihar continues to be one of the most under-developed states, when the people who mould young impressionable minds are treated with such indifference..

19 comments:

SD said...

Not really.

Vinod_Sharma said...

You know why no teahcer makes a big noise about it? It may be because only the peons go to the school to open and close it...the teachers probably just draw salaries and earn by teaching interested students as private tutors for an additional consideration!


Seriously, the more you hear about Bihar, the more you are left wondering!

Smitha said...

@Goofy Mumma - :)

@Vinod, Yes, it is quite shocking.. I did think that Nitish was doing a good job - probably he has not had a chance to address this - anyways, as they say- it will take ages to correct what Laloo and his folks have done in Bihar. It makes me wonder what the stats are for the other states as well..

OG said...

Seriously, the more you hear about Bihar, the more you are left wondering!

:) Good one.... Vinod Sir....

anything can happen in our country....

Anonymous said...

Sadly! teachers in India are still underpaid. Not just in India but in US too the teachers who mould young minds, the ones who teach smaller classes are paid peanuts.

If we are onto comparing then I still see so much dedication from the teachers over here who takes their job as a responsibility. On the other hand for most teachers (not all) back home, it is just a job which they finish half-heartedly.

No job is menial but still less than peons?!

Indyeah said...

I am really glad you brought some light to this topic Smitha..
as someone who is part of this profession it is extremely sad for me to hear such facts...
and this condition repeats itself all over India ...
Teachers are treated like so much garbage....the salary is peanuts and all one gets for peanuts are monkeys....
Having said that it is also true that government school teachers treat their profession like a past time....they get the salary on time so they don't really care..
and no authority keeps a check on them...
But the salary question comes up again because low salary=poor performance of teachers and pathetic candidates for teaching

OR poor teaching=low salary because the parents don't care enough anyway to make this an issue..
a vicious circle...

manju said...

This is why Bihar's future is likely to be bleak.

Anonymous said...

Well I am sorry Smitha and all others who think Bihar's future is bleak.

I mean even Kerala's future is similarly bleak and at present Kerala's situation is much worse than Bihar's.

Is it shocking? Am i mad? What am i talking about? Bihar's literacy rate is so low, kerala is almost 100% literate.

The thing is literacy doesn't increase a person's productivity.

According to 2008 government report, 46 farmers commit suicide in India every DAY.

21 of them commits in Vidharbha and Tilangana, 12 in Kerala, 8 in TN, in bihar there is no such suicide reported on daily bases.

Thus, Bihar is better. isn't it?
I can provide exact government report links about it.

About teachers getting lesser pay than peons, my Aunt teaches at Arya Samaj kanya Vidyalaya, for Rs2000/- per month. the fees of a children in that school is Rs80/- per month, and it is the best school in that city. So what?

She is an aryasamajist with firm belief to spread education. her ssalary even not covers her car-petrol charges to go to school and come back everyday for teaching. it actually doesn't matter. She has lots of money. Yet she loves teaching kids of poor or lower middle class kids. its a school of girls till the class 12th. And she loves her voluntary job.

About those poor teachers in Bihar why don't you enjoy the reality that they DO have a job? What about those graduates who even do not have that job?

Do you know what salary government pays for Shiksha Karmchari working for Saksharta Abhiyaan? Rs1600/- per month. Its less than a peons salary in some furnished office in mumbai. So what?
Atleast those graduates are getting some honest money.

Theres ALOT OF graduate well educated people with NO WORK

Smitha said...

@Ajit -Yes, anything can happen :)

@Solilo - I agree. Teachers are paid peanuts and so are childcare professionals.. While - as you say there are still teachers who take it up as a vocation - most have become indifferent. Here in the UK - they have started a campaign to attract people to the teaching profession - its really nice.. trying to re-inforce how important a job it is! I will see if I can find it on the net and post it.

@Manju- Agree.. Just hope things improve..

@Indyeah. Welcome! Yes, it is sad to see how the noble profession of teachers is treated these days.. And yes, I have seen how govt teachers treat it like a timepass.. I guess it is all linked. With poor self esteem and the govt doing nothing to incentivize - and the children being mostly from poor back grounds and parents not caring enough!
I have heard that there is another problem in private schools with affluent parents - in some such schools , teachers are scared to even chastise/discipline children as parents have 'contacts' and their jobs could be at stake.. Sad isn't it?

Smitha said...

@Unpretentious Diva, I think I was talking mainly of the condition of teachers in this post - in response to the article that I came across.

No doubt, every state has its own problems. Many people will tell you that the problem in Kerala is that people are educated - and so are too aware of their rights.

As for the example of your aunt - I already mentioned that there are several dedicated teachers who really really care about their students. I am talking about the majority - who to be honest will not have the drive to do more than the bare minimum required. As you yourself said, your aunt has 'lots of money' - so it might not matter to her. But consider a graduate from a lower middle class background, who might be genuinely interested in teaching - but whe he/she sees that if he/she joins a BPO, he/she will get probably 10 times what he/she could get as a teacher- might be tempted to not take up teaching despite being very interested in it! This was what I am trying to say.

Also, as you say - 'Atleast they have jobs' - yes they do - but is it what they really want to do? For teaching is a profession which can actually make or break young lives - I think its should be treated as more than 'just a job'!

I donot deny that there are a 'ALOT OF graduate well educated people with NO WORK' - I just feel that that was not what this post was all about! Maybe one of us can do a post on that :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with Vinod.With so much corruption rampant in the state anything is possible.

Smitha said...

@Prerna, Welcome! Agree with you and Vinod - as far as corruption continues - we have very little chances of things changing..

Anonymous said...

@ Smitha

Well yep my next post would be about removing poverty.

Although we have had attributed some posts about it already so you may check please :)
And yep theres some 4 major discussions over education.

The major of it I am mentioning here.

The Myth of Complete Education

And here is it
on creating employment

Many people will tell you that the problem in Kerala is that people are educated - and so are too aware of their rights.
Rights are to be earned, rights certainly do not come free. And a man need constant efforts to safeguard his rights too.

if someone says, health is his birth right, he must understand that the doctor caring health is working hard. So he cannot get free health care. he need to buy it.

if someone says he has birth right for food, he need to understand that a farmer and many workers are producing the food, they are working hard. So he need to pay for food.

But in india you will hear states spending crores just to provide free food.

Why the heck a person will try to work hard if he get free food?

And without working hard, a person may get begging from government as government loots the hard workers through taxes and subsidies, but that person can never increase his productivity by begging.

Kerala is succumbing under great national debt cos kerala government provides excellent health care free. it is a state near to bankruptcy.

And people in kerala are not commiting suicide becos they are educated, they are commiting suicide cos they are starving.

Anyways, even the theist will agree to this that God helps them, who help themselves.
Biharis do help them mostly.

Indians need to get start to increase their productivity rather than looking for beggings.

I recommend you hearily to take a look at this too
population poverty and Production

and this

Poverty: causes and cure

I am sorry if i am acting as a spam.

take your time to check my view on the subject.

Smitha said...

@Unpretentious Diva - Your comments are more than welcome - please do keep commenting.. After all - you are giving me a differenec perspective. I will go through your posts and get back to you :) Take care and do keep commenting!

Anonymous said...

Well that's kinda bad and a shocker :(
Bihar is kinda different.

Smitha said...

@Chirag, Welcome! Yes it was a little shocking to know how underpaid teachers are..

Chirag Jethmalani. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chirag Jethmalani. said...

My openionis that the attrition rate would be now too high amoung Bihar teachers.
Bihar Salary Saga.

Smitha said...

@Chirag Jethmalani, Welcome! Yes, probably the attrition rate would be high - or people might just hang on to their jobs as some job is better than none..