TEACHER STATUS
3.01 Of all the different factors which influence the quality of education and its contribution to national development, the quality,competence and character of teachers are undoubtedly the most significant. Nothing is more important than securing a sufficient supply of high quality recruits to the teaching profession, providing them with the best possible professions preparation and creating satisfactory conditions of work in which they can be fully effective. In view of the rapid expansion of educational facilities expected during the next three Plans, and specially in view of the urgent need to raise standards to the highest level and to keep them continually improving, these problems have now acquired unprecedented importance and urgency.
3.02 A programme of high priority in the proposed educational reconstruction, therefore, is to feed back a significant proportion of the talented men and women from schools and colleges into the educational system. For this purpose, it is necessary to make an intensive and continuous effort to raise the economic, social and professional status of teachers in order to attract young men and women of ability to the profession, and to retain them in it as dedicated, enthusiastic and contented workers. This can be done, to a very limited extent only, through appealing to motives such as love of children or of teaching, interest in academic work or research, idealism and desire for social service, which attract a small proportion of able young: persons to the teaching profession. There can, however, be no doubt that the provision of adequate remuneration, opportunities for professional advancement and favourable conditions of service and work, are the major programmes which will help to initiate and maintain this 'feedback' process. We propose to discuss some important aspects of these programmes in the course of this chapter and the next.
REMUNERATION 3.03 The Post-Independence Period. In the post-Independence period, continuous efforts have been made to improve the remuneration of teachers at all levels and schemes for this purpose have figured prominently in all the Plans. But the net results achieved have not been
3.04 TEACHER STATUS 85
adequate, particularly in respect of primary school teachers. This will be seen from Table 3.1.
TABLE 3.1. AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES OF TEACHERS IN INDIA
(1950-51 to 1965-66)
Type of institutions Average annual salary of teachers Average
(at current prices)in annual
------------------------------------------- salary in
1950-51 1955-56 1960-61 1965-66 1965-66
at 1950-51
prices
A. Higher Education
1. University depar-
tments 3,759 5,456 5,475 6,500 3,939
(100) (145) (146) (173) (105)
2. Colleges of arts
and science 2,696 3,070 3,659 4,000 2,424
(100) (114) (136) (148) (90)
3. Professional
colleges 3,948 3,861 4,237 6,410 3,885
(100) (98) (107) (162) (98)
B. Schools
4. Secondary schools1,258 1,427 1,681 1,959 1,187
(100) (113) (134) (156) (94)
5. Higher primary
schools 682 809 1,058 1,228 741
(100) (119) (155) (180) (109)
6. Lower primary
schools 545 652 873 1,046 634
(100) (120) (160) (192) (116)
7. Pre-primary
schools 914 770 925 1,083 656
(100) (84) (101) (118) (72)
8. Vocational
schools 1,705 1,569 2,041 2,887 1,750
(100) (92) (120) (169) (103)
ALL TEACHERS 769 919 1,218 1,476 895
(100) (120) (158) (192) (116)
9. Cost of living
index for working
classes 100 95 123 165
10. National income
per head of population
(at current prices) 267 255 326 424
(100) (96) (122) (159)
Source: Ministry of Education, Form A. The figures for 1965-66 are
estimates made in the Commission Secretariat.
N.B. The figures within brackets give the index of growth on the
basis of 1950-51 = 100.
3.04 It will be seen that the increase in the remuneration of the different categories of teachers is far from uniform. The largest proportional increase has taken place in the salaries of teachers in primary schools. But owing to the very low levels of remuneration which obtained in 1950-51, these are still far from satisfactory. The improvement in the salaries of teachers in the universities, vocation- al schools and colleges is also noticeable. But in the colleges of arts and science and in secondary schools, there has been an actual decrease in remuneration in real terms. The picture is worst at the pre-primary stage
86 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3.05
because the salaries in pre-primary schools are governed, not so much by departmental regulations, as by market conditions. This is because most of the pre-school institutions are unaided and located in urban areas where an over-abundant supply of women teachers is available.
3.05 It will also be noted that a good deal of the effect of the increase in remuneration at all stages has been offset by the rise in the cost of living which has taken place during this period-the remunerations in the various types of institutions have risen by 18 to 92 per cent while the cost of living has risen by 65 per cent. It is only in four types of institutions-vocational schools (69 per cent), universities (73 per cent), higher primary schools (80 per cent) and lower primary schools (92 per cent) that the rise in remuneration has exceeded that in the cost of living. In some sectors, e.g., pre- primary, the increase in the cost of living has been greater than that in remuneration. On the whole, there was some improvement in the remuneration of teachers in real terms up to 1960-61. This has since been almost completely neutralized by the sharp increase in prices that has taken place in the last two or three years. This has, we are afraid, adversely affected the morale of teachers. In our opinion, the most urgent need is to upgrade the remuneration of teachers substantially, particularly at the school stage.
3.06 The Commission made a study of the remuneration of teachers in all the States and Union Territories. It revealed two major weaknesses:
(1) Inter-State Differences. There are substantial differences in the remuneration of teachers from State to State, particularly at the school stage; and
(2) Intra-State Differences. Even within a State, there are variations in remuneration. At the university stage, salaries vary from faculty to faculty. The teachers in affiliated colleges do not have the same scales of pay as those in universities. At the school stage, there are often substantial differences in the remuneration of teachers working in institutions under different managements.
There has been a strong demand for the abolition of these variations. It has been suggested that the first type of variation can be eliminated or reduced to the minimum by adopting national scales of pay with adjustment in allowances for inevitable local variations in the cost of living and that the second should be offset by adopting the principle of parity. Both these proposals need a closer examination.
3.07 National Scales of Pay. The demand for the introduction of national scales of pay for all categories of teachers is supported unanimously by teachers' organizations. We found that the proposal had
3.09 TEACHER STATUS 87
a ready acceptance in higher education because of the developments in the post-Independence period. The University Education Commission recommended that the multiplicity of scales of pay which then existed in the universities and colleges Should be reduced to the minimum and that an attempt should be made to adopt national scales of pay for teachers in higher education. This recommendation was broadly accepted and some action to implement it has since been taken. The UGC is attempting to introduce common scales of pay for different categories of teachers in the universities and similar scales of pay for teachers in affiliated colleges. Attempts for the 'introduction of common scales of pay are also being made, with a fair amount of success, in respect of engineering institutions. It is true that, in spite of all that has been done during the last ten years, there are still considerable variations in the scales of pay of teachers in higher education. But the important point is that the general princi- ple of adopting national scales of pay has been broadly accepted; and all that is needed is to make a more determined effort to move forward on the lines already set. This is a comparatively simpler issue.
3.08 At the school stage, however, the problem is more difficult because the desirability of introducing national scales of pay at this stage is itself challenged. It is argued, for instance, that as the cost of living varies from one part of the country to another, a common national scale of pay would really imply unequal payment and cause considerable hardship to school teachers with lower levels of 'income. It is also pointed out that the supply and demand position for the different categories of teachers varies considerably from one part of the country to another. Women teachers, for instance, are readily available in some areas and are very difficult to obtain in others. Under these circumstances, it is pointed out that a common scale of pay would make it more difficult to recruit them in just those areas where they are most needed. There is some force in these arguments. But in our opinion, they only make out a case for providing local allowances in addition to basic national scales of pay rather than disprove the need to adopt minimum national scales of pay to reduce the large disparities that now exist in the salaries of school teachers in different States. We, therefore, recommend that, at the school stage, the Government of India should lay down the minimum scales of pay for school teachers. The States and Union Territories should then adopt equivalent or higher scales of pay to suit their local conditions.
3.09 The Principle of Parity' With regard to the intra-State differences, we recommend that the remuneration of teachers working under different managements should also be the same and that all teachers
88 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3.09
having the same qualifications and the same responsibilities should have the same, or at least similar, remuneration and conditions of work and service. The problem will have to be discussed separately for higher and school education.
(1) Higher Education. There is a good deal of disparity in the remuneration of teachers of different categories in higher education. For instance, the remuneration of teachers in different faculties is not the same: the teachers in the faculties of engineering and medicine are paid higher than those in the humanities. There is also a difference, in most parts of the country, between the salaries given to teachers in universities and those given to teachers in affiliated colleges. In many States, teachers in government colleges do not get the scales of pay given to university teachers, although their remuneration is often much better than that of teachers in affiliated colleges. We recommend that these differences should be reduced to the minimum and efforts made to eliminate them gradually.
(2) School Teachers. We recommend that the scales of pay of school teachers belonging to the same category but working under different managements such as government, local bodies or private organizations, should be the same. The existing variations are purely historical in origin. The administrative authorities under the British did not wish to reduce the salaries of government servants; at the same time, they were anxious to keep salary costs down to a level which the economy could afford. Hence the salaries 'of teachers in local authority schools were deliberately fixed at a point lower than that for government teachers and those for teachers in private schools were fixed at a still lower point. This policy has had two unfortunate results: it has lowered the average wage for teachers in general, as teachers in government service were a very small minority; it has also introduced an undesirable 'caste' system among them. It is time to eliminate these relics of the past.
We are happy to note that a move in this direction has already been initiated and is well on the way. The principle of parity has been accepted at all levels of school education in seven States (Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Mysore, Punjab and Rajasthan). In three States (Assam, Gujarat and Maharashtra) it has been accepted at the primary level, but not at the secondary for all categories of teachers. In five States (Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) it has not been accepted at any stage and the scales of pay prescribed for teachers in non-government schools are different and much lower. Some illustrations of this are given in Table 3.2.
3.09 TEACHER STATUS 89
TABLE 3.2. PAY SCALES FOR TEACHERS IN GOVERNMENT AND NON-
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN SOME STATES
State and category of teachers Government Non-government
institutions institutions
Assam
1. Principal of a higher secon-
dary school Rs. 350-1000 Rs. 250-600
(starting (starting sal-
salary of ary of
Rs. 450) Rs. 390)
2. Assistant teacher in high
school (trained graduate) Rs 250-700 Rs.125-270
(starting sal-
lary of Rs.140)
Bihar
Matriculate trained teacher in
a primary school Rs. 115-200 Rs. 50-90
(D.A. Rs. 5) (D.A. Rs. 30)
Orissa
Assistant teacher (trained
graduate)in a secondary school Rs. 185-325 Rs. 175-300
West Bengal
1. Headmaster of a secondary
school Rs. 325-1000 Rs. 350-525
2. Assistant teacher in a sec-
ondary school with M.A./M.Sc
./M. Corn. & B.T. Rs. 225- 475 Rs. 210-450
3. Assistant teacher in a sec-
ondary school with B.A./B.Sc.,
& B.T. Rs. 175-325 Rs. 160-295
It will be seen that, in some cases, the differences are marginal while in others, they are serious and glaring.
Three main arguments are put forward for retaining this disparity in remuneration. The first is that the teachers in non-government schools are not well-qualified and not properly selected. We cannot accept this contention. Instead of perpetuating unequal remuneration on these grounds, it is essential to adopt the principle of parity in remuneration, and simultaneously to prescribe the same qualifications for teachers in all types of schools and to introduce a similar machinery for their recruitment. The second is that teachers in government service have certain handicaps such as liability to transfer, application of conduct and discipline rules, etc., and that parity in remuneration would tilt the balance materially in favour of teachers in private schools. We do not agree with this view either. We are opposed to the idea of frequent transfers in government schools and have recommended that their teachers should, as far as possible, be localized. We do not support the restrictions on the academic freedom of teachers in government educational institutions and instead of compensating them for it in monetary terms, we have recommended the grant of academic freedom. There are bound to be some differences in conditions of service in government and non-government institutions. For instance, private educational institutions call provide a more satisfying experience to
90 EDUCATION AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 3.10