Education department scraps plan to rejig teachers’ pay

The state education department has decided to revoke its decision to explore the possibility of linking teachers’ salary grants to the student enrolments in schools.

The state education department has decided to revoke its decision to explore the possibility of linking teachers’ salary grants to the student enrolments in schools. In a circular issued on December 19, the education department scrapped the committee which was formed to look into the issue.

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Earlier this month, the department had set up 33 different committees to study some important issues in school education. Some of the key areas in which these committees will work include – ensuring the proper implementation of the RTE act, ensuring that there are no loopholes in the first year junior college admission process and devising a system to hear complaints of school fee hikes amongst others. One among these was a committee formed to check if it is feasible to fix the amount of salaried grant on the basis of the number of students in each school.

Experts had however questioned the setting up of these committees which were proposed by the previous government after it ceased to be in power. Many had also written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray the very basis of the committee even as there is no education minister. In a circular issued on December issued on December 19, all these committees have been scrapped.

While officials from the education department did not respond to calls and messages, schools welcomed the move. “It was a really foolish idea and nothing would have come out of it anyway. The government should stop blaming teachers for all its failures and should in fact work on bettering itself and fixing its own issues,” said the principal of a suburban school.