TEACHER'S PAY HIKE - AFTERMATH

NEW DELHI: Parents may well have to bear the brunt of the hike in salaries of school teachers after the Sixth Pay Commission. Not only will they
have to prepare for an increased fee structure, if schools have their way, parents may also have to cough up arrears for the past two years.

Several city schools have approached the Directorate of Education (DoE) for permission to enforce the fee hike with effect from January 1, 2006, saying they would be unable to bear the entire financial burden on their own and would have to pass it on to the parents. "We have written to the DoE asking for permission to charge the arrears from parents. This is our only demand. The salaries for the teachers have to be paid from September 2008 but schools need to work out the source for paying the arrears,'' said S L Jain, chairperson, National Progressive Schools Conference (NPSC).

Jain had earlier said that a fee hike was inevitable but the quantum would be decided only after discussions with other schools and the DoE. "If the DoE allows, parents may either have to pay up a certain part of the arrears to be paid to teachers if not the whole amount,'' Jain said.

Meanwhile, schools have started warning parents about the enormous amount they may have to shell out. For instance, Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar issued a circular to parents before the autumn break, informing them that there would be an average salary increase of 50-55% for teachers. "Over and above this, the arrears of the increased salary have to be paid backdated from January 1, 2006 i.e. for the last two years and nine months too. The figures are enormous and cannot be borne by the school's current fees income... a supplementary bill will be sent to you later following the Directorate's guidelines and instructions,'' said the circular. The school authorities could not be reached for comment.

Laxman Public School, Hauz Khas, had a PTA meeting recently to work out the new fee structure. "We will introduce the hike in consultation with the parents. If the directorate allows us to charge the arrears, parents can pay in instalments,'' said principal, Usha Ram.

Schools usually ask for three months fee at the time of admission, which includes tuition, development and annual charges, besides the caution money, registration fee and admission charges that have to be paid as well. Individual schools meanwhile are drawing up new salary structures that the Sixth Pay Commission has made available to teachers, to decide how much of the increase can be passed off to the parents. The minimum increase, according to school authorities, is going to be in the region of 20-30%. "That is the least that parents should expect. After the last Pay Commission recommendations, the court had allowed 40% hike in fee. This time, we need to hike fee by at least 30%, though the exact amount will be discussed with all schools before taking a final decision,'' added S C Baveja, principal, Bal Bharti.

According to schools, the student fee is the only source of income for them because of which a hike in fees cannot be avoided if the teachers' salaries have to be increased. Added Suraj Prakash, principal, CRPF school, "The new salary structure that will be in effect for teachers has made it imperative for us to increase the fee.''