TENKASI: Teachers of private schools in Tenkasi have urged the State government to ensure that they are paid their entitled salaries. They alleged widespread overstatement of salaries by school managements in reports submitted to the government, even as teachers have to make do with meagre pay.
To ensure fair pay and curb fraudulent payroll practices, teachers also demanded that proper guidelines be framed to prevent their exploitation by school managements.
TNIE spoke to teachers from several private nursery, matriculation and CBSE schools across the district and found widespread inhumane treatment of teachers. Among them, a private matriculation school in Pavoorchatram stood out for the severity of the violations.
"Our school, which is run by a priest, is not actually paying teachers the salaries it reports to the State government. Though many private schools follow similar practices, the method adopted by our management is blatantly fraudulent," a few teachers of the school said, requesting anonymity.
The teachers explained the modus operandi adopted by the school authorities to exploit teachers while duping the State government with fabricated salary records. "A new teacher joining the school is informed that his or her actual salary will be around Rs 7,000 to Rs 12,000. However, the school management credits Rs 30,000 to the teacher's bank account on payday and soon withdraws the entire amount using pre-signed cheques that the teacher was asked to hand over soon after the account was opened at the Tirunelveli branch of a Kerala-based private-sector bank. The promised salary of around Rs 7,000 is then paid in cash to the teacher concerned."
Other private schools in the district also exploit their teachers through various means.
A teacher working at an Alangulam-based school claimed, "Our school management does not open bank accounts for us. Since we are not allowed to access the school's internal records, we do not know how much salary the management claims to be paying us in the records submitted to the government.
"I teach Classes 6 to 9 and am paid around Rs 8,000 in cash. The school management will remove me from my job if I report the low salary. My peers who roll beedis earn more money than I do. Unlike government school teachers, we do not have the freedom to protest."
Making matters worse, these teachers are forced to work in a toxic environment.
"I have to work for nine to 10 hours daily for a salary of around Rs 4,500. We are granted only two days of leave per month, with loss of pay. If I am late, even by one minute, on three days in a month, it is treated as one day of leave and results in a salary deduction. I continue to work solely for the pride of being a teacher. After marriage, women teachers in our school are indirectly pressured by the management to resign," said a woman nursery teacher at a private school near Alangulam.
When contacted by TNIE, Chief Educational Officer of Tenkasi, Renuga, said that the department could not initiate action against schools unless affected teachers filed formal complaints. "We have been hearing about such underpayment issues for a long time. However, no teacher is willing to lodge a complaint against the school management. If they feel they are being underpaid, they can leave their jobs at those schools," she added.
Despite repeated attempts, School Education Minister A. Rajmohan was unavailable for comment on the issue.
