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Carry on, brave teachers
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Government schoolteachers have the arduous task of enthusing children, who barely manage a meal a day, to come to classes. Add to this their additional tasks as clerks, campaigners for government schemes, and sometimes even as peons. V. RAMESH pays a tribute to these unsung heroes on the occasion of Teachers' Day, tomorrow.
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THEY ARE the unsung heroes, rarely credited with any achievement, but blamed for almost everything that is wrong with the system. But considering the odds against them, how can one expect a government schoolteacher to fit into the soft-spoken, saintly, friend-philosopher-guide mould one sees in vintage films? Today, they are not only expected to teach, but also join almost every government-sponsored campaign, be it revision of voters' list, family planning programmes, literacy programmes, midday meal scheme, adult literacy drive, or health campaigns.
Teaching in a government primary school is challenging in itself, since an array of social, cultural, and economic issues come into play. Imparting knowledge in the face of abject poverty requires determination. Many of the children here come from homes where alcoholism, domestic violence, and poverty have assumed calamitous proportions. A teacher has to ensure that the child does not fall into the same trap. "We visit the houses of such students, and I sometimes talk to their parents. I convince them about the ills of alcoholism and persuade the parents to encourage the child to study," says M. Nagarathnachary, a government schoolteacher with 20 years of experience behind him. But people like him find little support from the Government on this count.
Add to this the additional burden that comes with various government schemes. "During campaigns such as census, voter enlistment, and so on, the teachers are given only three days, but the work lasts for 10 days," says S. Susheela, Secretary of Vidyaniketan at Jaraganahalli in J.P. Nagar. Vidyaniketan is a voluntary organisation running a school for poor children. It also has a school for child labourers.
The lack of non-teaching staff in many schools has compounded matters for teachers. According to sources in the Directorate of Public Instruction, there are no peons and clerks in primary schools. In fact, these schools never had clerks, though few had peons. While students sweep the floor and ring the bell in most schools, teachers are deputed for non-teaching tasks such as preparing statements, compiling data, and so on.
Every year, workload on teachers is increasing at the primary level as more and more programmes are introduced by the government. And when a new programme is introduced, it is the "most efficient teacher" who is summoned to implement it. He or she has to collect data, do the clerical job, write reports, and submit documents to the Block Education Officer.
On an average, every school has 220 working days in a year. Of these, teachers are busy with assignments for 60 days. They are left with 160 working days, wherein they have to also take special classes.
In the meantime, the student-teacher ratio, which was 40:1 about a decade ago, has changed for the worse. Now, for schools which have I Standard to IV Standard, only two teachers are posted, irrespective of the number of students. It is three teachers in schools having classes up to V Standard, and four where primary and middle school are combined. These four teachers have to teach all subjects for all classes. And when the syllabus is revised, things become doubly difficult, as has happened this year. Many feel that the existing teachers are not qualified enough to teach the new syllabus.
Sources in the Directorate of Public Instruction say that teachers are given training from time to time, but how far they benefit from this is open to debate. In fact, every month a meeting of teachers from all government schools in the city is held wherein a particular subject is chosen and teachers exchange views on the ways to teach difficult subjects.
As the non-teaching assignments pile up and teachers end up spending long hours outside schools, making sure that the child does not skip classes and scores at least passing marks every year becomes a daunting task indeed. When they get back from non-teaching assignments, they have to go through the portions in a hurry. An uninspiring atmosphere in the school and an unsympathetic mindset on the part of the government only makes matters worse.
But it is an amazing love for the profession that makes teachers hold on to their jobs. It is the plight of children which makes teachers put in that extra bit into their work. Students who find it difficult to cope are paid special attention. "A good teacher is the one who holds the attention of the least intelligent student. Punishment won't work here. If we apply pressure, students simply stop coming to school," says Mr. Nagarathnachary.
But he also argues that there is a lot more support from the Government now, both in terms of funds and training, than in the past. NGOs also chip in with programmes that combine education with entertainment. But here the focus is on children and the teacher is quite forgotten.
"We don't take tuitions. Salary is our only income. In fact, we spend money to help children. In the case of dropouts, we go to their houses and bring them back to school," says S. Pramila Devi, Headmistress at a government primary school in the city.
Unlike those more privileged, children in government schools, who come from humble backgrounds, accept their teacher as a mentor and look up to her for almost everything. With the destiny of so many lives in their hands, the teachers in government schools have no choice but to carry on bravely, against all odds.
From pillar to post
CUMBERSOME ARE the ways of the Government, even when it comes to payment of salaries. While most Government servants get their pay on the first of every month, teachers have a long wait till the 10th or 15th of every month. In this era of online banking, government adopts an archaic system.
Firstly, every month, the zilla panchayat allots salaries based on the data given by the concerned Block Education Officer (BEO), once a year. This allotment is, in turn, communicated to the taluk panchayat. The taluk panchayat forwards it to the BEO. From the BEO, the bill goes to the bank concerned, which has to affix its seal on it. Then the bill is submitted to the treasury, from where the cheques are drawn in favour of the schools. These cheques are deposited in the respective banks, and they send them for reconciliation. The salaries are credited to the accounts of the teachers after the reconciliation process is complete.
At every stage of the disbursement of salary, teachers have to follow it up, and sometimes even grease the palms of the bureaucrats for quick disbursal of money. In case it is holiday time, the misery of the teachers gets compounded.
The DA arrears are paid only at the end of the financial year. Even when teachers do get an increment during the financial year it comes to them in the form of arrears only in the month of March. And all this is not in some back of the beyond place, but even in this, our very own IT hub!
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