This Eid, private school teachers get reduced salaries in Kashmir

KULGAM — As the Holy month of Ramadan ended, the preparations for the festival of Muslims, Eid-ul-Fitr began in the valley of Kashmir – the Muslim majority Union Territory of India.

Eid-ul-Fitr though is believed as the day of contentment but in 2020, the world-wide lockdown seems a bit harsh to keep few sectors deprived of such happiness in Kashmir this Eid.

One such group is the private school teachers of the Valley, who are not being paid for months since August last year after the abrogation of special status of Kashmir. Now as the private school owners had mercy on their unpaid staff but that too doesn’t seem much as their salaries are either reduced to half or third-fourth of a month’s salary.

Huma Bhat, a school teacher in Kashmir has joined a private school in the last week of February this year on the commitment of Rs. 8000 per month as her salary. Till date, she has not been paid a penny and on Tuesday, her account was credited with only a month’s salary that too just half of it.

“I was shocked and my eyes were numb when I got the text message of my salary and it was only Rs. 4000,” narrated Bhat. She further added her concern over the verbal commitment between teachers and school owners about the salaries.

As the scenario of appointment of a private teacher is based on the verbal commitment only, it gives privilege to the owners to exploit their staff from time to time.

Time is witness of the dedicating work of teachers during this lockdown. Neither the pandemic nor the reduced internet speed stopped them from carrying out their duties. Alike the entire world, the teachers of the Valley also held their routine classes online despite being unpaid and with 2G speed.

Students of the Valley suffered a huge loss since August last year. By the ending of February when school gates were unlocked, pandemic locked them down again and with this, the Zoom application became the source of online classes for students and teachers.

Another teacher Saima, from south Kashmir said that they faced many challenges be it 2G internet speed or rearranging the mobile numbers of students and to reach out to every student individually. It was because after the mobile connectivity was snapped in August last year, many parents had changed their numbers.

She further added that despite doing the jobs they were not supposed to, school administrations still seem ignorant towards their resistant efforts. “It was the job of administration (non-teaching staff) to call parents for arranging numbers. We were hired for teaching only. We did odd jobs as well just to get paid,” Saima said.

Narrating their unending miseries, a group of private school teachers said that they gave their cent percent in online classes but at the end what they got is just a token of honorarium. Their salaries are reduced and every school owner has one excuse that they did not get fee from students yet.

Some teachers said in their strong voices that it is not their fault that students are not paying their dues. They should be paid to feed their families. “We did what we were told to do, taught through online classes and now there is just this token of Eidi,” said Shahida (name changed), a teacher.

Many female teachers also blamed that male teachers of higher classes are paid full salaries every month and females are ignored on the basis of the stereotypes, which they (females) call as sheer exploitation.

“I have been working in a private school for almost more than seven years now. Since November last year, I never asked for my salary despite my hard work day and night. At least I was happy when I get it that would be a good feeling. But when I got my pay, the earth beneath my feet just spilled away,” said another teacher from Kulgam.

When asked about the reduced salaries of teachers, a reputed school owner in south Kashmir said that the parents are not paying fees despite repeated calls. He said, “We are lacking the source so can pay only what we could arrange.”

Teachers are no doubt respected and appreciated for their work everywhere but in the books and essays only. However, people often forget that the respect and the appreciation is not enough for a teacher to make his/her ends meet. Like other working sectors, private schools should also pay salaries to their staff so as they can also celebrate Eid with their families.

On Thursday, a financial assistance order was issued for the needy private school teachers by the Jammu and Kashmir Government under the State Disaster Relief fund (SDRF).

In a statement earlier, President of Private Schools’ Association, GN Var urged the parents to clear their dues so that teachers can be paid.

In an another statement, Principal Secretary to J&K Government; School Education Department, Dr. Asgar Samoon said teachers work hard so need to be paid by private schools.