Private schools appointing more teachers on contract

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, August 19, 2007
The number of contractual teachers in private schools of Kolkata is on the rise. This is not only affecting the quality of education in some of the best schools in the city but is also compromising the service terms and conditions of the teachers on contract.
Currently, the ratio of permanent teaching staff and contractual teaching staff in private schools of the city is 60:40. With permanent teachers retiring every year, the schools are consciously not appointing permanent teachers but are taking contractual teachers to fill up the vacancies. The Forum for Teaching and Non-Teaching Staffs of Private School of West Bengal representatives will meet school education minister Partha De by the end of this month and would discuss the situation with him.
While appointing full-time teachers means the schools will have to pay them salary as per government scale, a contractual teacher can be hired at a very cheap rate. While a full time faculty will expect a salary of Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000, contractual teachers are paid just Rs 2000-Rs 8000 a month. “With every passing year, the profit margin of the schools are increasing but the schools are no ready to share it with teachers. It is because of this that they are not appointing full time teachers,” said Leena Chatterjee, general secretary of the forum.
What is worse is that in many cases the teachers are not even entitled to a provident fund but get a consolidated salary. They are not protected by any service rules and are not even entitled to leave like permanent teachers. “As we do not have any service security, we cannot even raise our voice or else we would be sacked,” said a teacher of a prominent school in South Calcutta whose one-year contract expired three months back and has not been renewed yet by the school authority. Not just this, contractual teachers aren’t given maternity leave too.
In order to find contractual teachers many schools even comprise on the quality of teachers appointed. “We have to act according to the brief given us by the management. It is only natural that if we do not pay well and offer good service conditions, we will not get good teachers,” said the principal of a well-known English medium school in Dum Dum area. Contractual teachers thus often leave their job in he middle of a session if they find a better option, and the students suffer.
“This trend is catching up. In a decade, all private schools will have only contractual teachers. Since they pay is bad and there is no job security, only those who would not land any other job will become teachers,” said Chatterjee.
The government, too, encourages contractual teachers in government-aided schools. “The best thing would be if these contractual teachers are regularised. But if the government cannot ban contractual teachers appointment in private schools, it can find a nodal agency that can ensure better service conditions for them,” said Chatterjee. “If the schools flout norms, the government can cancel its no-objection certificate based on which schools get affiliation.”
mou.chakraborty@hindustantimes.com