After 20 years of earning Rs. 20 a day, Hindi teachers to get a pay hike

Teachers paid a pittance at schools promoting Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states

A classroom at Karnataka Mahila Hindi Seva

By Uzmi Athar

BANGALORE (Oct. 13)—Hindi-language teachers at schools set up by the Central government to spread the language in non-Hindi speaking states can finally look forward to a pay raise.

The current salary of Rs. 600 a month with no benefits will be hiked to Rs. 3,000 “within two to three months,” the deputy director of the Central Hindi Directorate told The SoftCopy.

“The salary paid to the Hindi teachers is not sufficient, and we are revising it”, Pradip Kumar said. The directorate is under the Human Resource Development Ministry and covers Karnataka, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa.

“I have been working as a Hindi teacher for the last 19 years, and I get a salary of Rs. 600 per month with no benefits”, said Veelavati, a Hindi teacher, or pracharak, who works for the Karnataka Hindi Prachar Samiti, a central- and state-government-recognized committee that conducts Hindi-language classes and exams.

“It [the salary] is not enough—the government pays just 75 percent of the salary of the teachers and the rest of the administration staff salary is paid from the student examination fees,” said a KHPS office assistant who wished to remain anonymous. “We bear the cost of all the Xeroxes, printing, and other stationery.”

The secretary of a well-known, 50-year-old Hindi school, Karnataka Mahila Hindi Seva, echoed the office assistant’s complaint.

“Recently, Governor H.R. Bhardwaj visited our institute,” B.S. Shantha Bai said.  “He promised that we (KMHS) will get government help for increasing the salary of the teaching and the nonteaching staffs, but nothing has been done.”

Funds take 11 months to arrive

Even when funds for Hindi schools are sanctioned, they are not disbursed until almost a year later. Funds earmarked in December are not paid until November of the following year. Meanwhile, these schools have to pay part the cost of the salaries of the teachers out of revenue from exam fees.

“Even though it is a part-time job, we still deserve more money for working six days a week”, Veelavati said.
The Karnataka Secretariat of Education proposed allocating Rs. 84.5 million in 2006-07 toward the salary of 870 teachers of the Hindi schools in Karnataka, but the plan never materialized.

“The central government has been talking about the policies concerning how the Hindi language should be propagated, but when it comes to the salaries of the teachers, no one cares,” said Shantha Bai of KMHS. “Governments at both the central and the state levels are corrupt—they have money for everything but not for us.”

KMHS had earlier sought yearly funding of Rs. 13.1 million, but all it got was Rs. 2.5 million, out of which it has to pay principals’ monthly salary of Rs. 1,800, lecturers’ salary of Rs. 1,200 and teachers’ salary of Rs. 600.