Telangana teachers state hike in school fees not being translated into pay increase

School fees can be going up exponentially year after year, but teachers claim that little to nothing gets translated into their pockets as their salaries are being raised by a meager 1,500.

They complain though the managements request them to give them a notice if they intend to resign from the school by December, intimation regarding the increase in salary is given just two months after re-opening the school, and it's challenging even to search for a new job.

"Though I did my best, this year I was hiking a 1,000. The management did not state any reason. I enjoy teaching, but such a paltry salary is hard to survive on," Asiya Shireen, a high-school teacher at a city-based private school, says.\

Another educator, Sanjeev Reddy, comments, "We were provided with year admission targets. Even though new admissions have risen and fees increased by more than 30%, our pay has been kept more or less constant. Teachers, the pillar of the education system, are being overlooked. We can't even quit the school and go apply for a fresh position as they've made us sign an agreement."

The Telangana Private Teachers Forum (TPTF) members stated that the condition of teachers this year was poor since it was given a meager hike or no hike at all by majority of the schools. "There are schools which provided a hike of 500 as well. In the majority of the schools, no teacher received more than a hike of 1,500 or 2,000. This, keeping in mind the extra classes and administrative duties. Schools simply claim admissions were pathetic this time, giving it as a reason for providing dismal increments," opines Shabir Ali, president of TPTF.

He maintains that unless the govt strictly enforces regulations and makes sure that teachers are compensated adequately, managements will go on milking both teachers, by offering meagre wages, and parents, by extorting huge fees.

Managements, on their part, affirm that it is a reality that the majority of schools suffered admissions this year. "The earning of individuals from the majority of groups has decreased in the past two years because of retrenchment and bad recruitment. Therefore, many are considering govt schools, particularly boarding ones. This is applicable to not only budget schools but also others. That is why many schools were unable to provide good increments to teachers," says Y Shekhar Rao of the Telangana Recognised School Managements Association, noting that the overall school expense has also increased substantially.