Pvt-aided school teachers to lose pay over poor results

In a move that will come as a shock for teachers in private-aided schools, the state government has decided to hold them responsible for poor student performance.

As per the new rules, the Department of Education can hold teachers’ promotion and salaries besides annulling the grant-in-aid if a newly recruited teacher fails to ensure more than 60% result.

Permitting management of the schools to fill vacant posts, the government has cautioned that if freshly recruited teachers fail to ensure good results in their respective subjects, not only their salaries and promotions will be withheld but their grant-in-aid will also be annulled if they continue with their dismal performance for three consecutive years.

In the corresponding five years, if 50% of students in aided schools do not pass, grants to these schools would be withheld. According to the order, teachers have to ensure 60% results, failing which that year’s salary would be withheld. The Deputy Directors of Public Instruction have been asked to submit a detailed report on teachers and their performance every year.

According to the state government, until 2015, the government had permitted to fill as many as 3,633 vacant teachers’ posts in private-aided schools. However, going by the government’s diktat - that only schools with more than 60 per cent result or on par with the average result of the district be allowed to fill the posts - aided private schools were able to fill only 781 seats. In fact, this condition had triggered an intense debate in the Legislative Council and the government was under due pressure to relax the rules. But according to teachers’ representatives, the latest results have turned out to be even more stringent.

Commenting on the move, BJP MLC Arun Shahpur said, “This will create job insecurity among teachers. The government has relaxed one norm and added another five. This is nothing but slow poison for aided schools.”

Niranjanaradhya V P, Fellow, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), termed this as the last resort for the government. “They cannot have a discriminatory attitude. There are several private and government schools as well who are not up to the mark. Before you punish anyone for performance, it is your responsibility to create an enabling environment for them to perform,” he said. Terming employment is a matter of social security, he said, “You cannot just hire and fire. Relaxations of the previous norms are bad. The onus is on the institution and management to perform. It is wrong to punish individuals.”