HYDERABAD: If the yearly 10 per cent fee hike has left parents seething, no reiteration on the implementation of the GO MS No 1 in the Prof Tirupati Rao Committee Report has left teachers dejected too.
The report, they allege, has superseded all regulations under GO MS No 1, thus being beneficial neither to the parents nor the teachers. The GO had capped the profitability margin for schools at five per cent along with using 50 per cent of their revenues for making payment to teachers and another 15 per cent to be spent on welfare schemes like ESI and Provident Fund etc. The teaching community with over 2 lakh teachers had hoped that the report would bring some respite to them as well.
“It has been created with the sole objective to favour the school management. By not proposing any recommendations for the implementation of the GO, it has proved that schools can continue to exploit parents in the name of exorbitant fees and teachers in the name of jobs without even paying the minimum wages,” said N Narayana, an educationist.
While parents feel the report is a deliberate attempt to sabotage their efforts against fee loot by private schools, teachers and academicians fear the 10 per cent fee hike without any accountability on the schools would give schools a free hand to exploit and profiteer.
“By not recommending that school managements need to follow the guidelines laid down by the GO no 1, the report has done has more damage than good to teachers. Despite regulation, schools have never followed the rules when it comes to giving decent remuneration and welfare. If the report is accepted by the government, it will only validate their actions of poor pay and service condition for faculty,” rued Sheik Shabbir Ali, Telangana Private Teachers Forum (TPTF).
“Low pay, no welfare schemes, long working hours, classes on all Saturdays and public holidays and forced to take charge of administrative works too at times — teachers in private schools are not just neglected but are also slaves for such school management,” rues Sangeetha Kumari, a teacher.