In private schools job insecurity, low salaries disturb teachers

 

ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (APP):Treating teachers well, matters a lot, as countries with exceptional student achievement consider
teaching a prestigious profession and offer them a decent compensation.
Interestingly, teachers enjoy different status in different countries; teachers have the highest status in China,Greece,Turkey and South Korea. In China, teachers enjoy the highest status and are compared to
doctors.
Pertinently, paying teachers handsomely matters a lot. According to the Brookings Institute, this is
important to attract good teachers to the profession and to keep them from leaving for other professions.
Talking to APP regarding teaching in private schools, Sania Murtaza a PhD scholar who serves for a
famous private school system as a subject coordinator expressing her dissatisfaction over the situation said even after serving for more than a decade to the entire satisfaction of the school administration she was still afraid
of losing her job anytime.
“There is no security of the job and one minor mistake can be a last day of your work” she deplored.
Sania said, “My salary is increased quite slowly and even after dedicating my ten years in a private school
I could not manage to support my family single-handedly.” .
“People raise voice against the private schools administration and fighting legal battles in the courts of law for exorbitant fee structure but nobody ever noticed our economic status”, a physical instructor Aliya Sikandar said.
“’All the credit of the students achievements is encashed by the schools administration and teachers are
merely awarded certificates but no financial acknowledgement is given to teachers to fulfill their economic
needs,’’ she complained.
She further said, despite all these odds, the teachers of private schools delivered the best by producing
toppers.
Ahmed Akbar a forty year old Chemistry teacher said his salary was quite meager as compared to his qualification and work load.
“I have three school going children and I could not give them a little time as I am always busy in marking
tests and worksheets for my students, said another teacher Shazia Altaf.” I still believe that teaching is a noble profession but without a proper service structure there was a chaos among the community and they were unable
to teach with ease of mind and satisfaction.
“Private schools business is thriving as number of branches and franchises are emerging across the country
but the teachers’ betterment is always ignored who are the backbone of any academia’’ said Shehla Tabassum.
“Our life remains all the time topsy-turvy as we do not get enough time to accomplish our domestic
obligations; our children suffer a lot but we are not paid for the over time duties, A maths teacher Hina
Khan said.
“Their criteria of hiring a teacher is that she should be an all rounder for instance a Mathematician should
have strong grip over science and arts subjects but salary would be paid only for one subject”, she further stated.
Jaleel Ahmed a resident of Rawalpindi said his son was having education at a well-known private school
system but he has to withdraw him from there because within a year the school administration turned over three teachers which badly affected his studies.
When contacted a private school headmistress, Shehnaz Malik said that the teachers were explained
all the rules and regulations at the time of appointment and they had to go through a written agreement and
the terms and conditions were clearly defined to them before joining the school.
A retired educationist, Mushtaq Mir, while referring to the system of education in private schools of
Pakistan said, “those who have no jobs, join teaching in private schools.” He was talking to APP on
system of education.
He advised only those people should join the teaching profession who had a passion for it, as, he
emphasised, children were nation’s asset and only highly qualified, skilled and dedicated people could
take care of it.
In return teachers should be reciprocated by being awarded with job security and a reasonable salary.

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