In Nagaland, the system of private schools imparting school education to students can be called an ‘industry’. These schools generally employ teachers at a very low salary pay scale, charge substantial amounts as admission and tuition fees from pupils, and often provide for residential facilities to enhance profitability.
Year after year, hundreds of teachers leave their private school teaching jobs in search of better employment opportunities citing the discomfort they experienced with their low-paying wages. There is also not much discussion seen about pay raise within the private teachers’ community although the devastating gap between them and their government counterparts in terms of workload and pay is significantly evident.
In our present scenario, there is no arguing that the enrolment of students in the private schools are far more than at least three times the enrolment in the government schools. This is evident from the UDISE+ 2019-2020 report.
Considering that the ‘most sought-after’ job by students after completing their courses is to be a teacher, it is an unfortunate reality that a private school teacher is often disrespected and does not consider it to be a noble profession by the masses. The teachers often feel overworked, underpaid and unappreciated that they have no other choice but to leave their profession. Besides, for many, teaching in a private school becomes their last resort and hence, bears the abuse meted out to them unknowingly.
One of our respondents who teaches classes A to 4 said that she feels overloaded with her work as she hardly finds time to relieve herself.
“We are made to finish our lesson plan in a day, cover the worksheet, classes to go along with practice questions, notes checking, maintain lesson plans and make sure that we complete one day plan in just 45 minutes. It is really a hectic job for a salary of Rs. 8,000 per month,” she said.
Another teacher added that they get paid regularly on time but the extra-curricular activities along with some extra working hours are some aspects that make her job really difficult.
”Truth be told, the salary is very less when compared to the extra amount of effort we put in. So, yes, if possible, I will surely leave for another job,” she said.
Another teacher responded that he gets a salary of Rs. 10,000 for teaching six or seven periods in a day every single day in the school.
“My job is seriously hectic and I feel overworked. I am not satisfied and will prefer a different job if only a good opportunity comes my way. Being a private school teacher is not easy,” he lamented.
A teacher who has been working for three years receives an amount of 13,000 rupees of which he claims that as ‘lot’ in comparison to other schools.
“I should say that my workload is not that much as compared to other private schools. Since I haven’t started a family yet, the amount I receive is more than enough for me. But looking at how the cost of living continues to increase every single day, I do believe that private school teachers are quite underpaid,” he shared.
“The real pain is no matter how qualified you are, they are still going to pay you as low as 10,000 and less so sometimes I feel that your years of degree are not even valued,” said another teacher.
The private schooling industry in Nagaland is growing rapidly in response to the demand of the people for school education. Year after year, the government schools get to see lesser enrolments and many government schools were forced to shut down due to negligible or non-existent enrolment of students.
In fact, a study by K. Rio et al. concluded that the private schools are attracting more students than their natural share vis-a-vis the government-run schools and this trend has become more pronounced in the last two decades or so.
The study also observed that older schools have attracted more pupils, partly because of their rapport with the parents and partly due to credibility in the market regarding the quality of education they impart. However, it is observed that the owners of many private schools are still yet to understand and accept the value and worth of their employees.
