With the pandemic worsening, the future remains uncertain and the federal government says local governments should look into the matter.
On March 19, when the government announced the closure of schools to curb the spread of Covid-19, Akash (name changed), a mathematics teacher at a private school in Kathmandu, wasn’t very worried. He thought that schools would reopen in a few weeks and he’d go back to taking classes.
“I had no idea it would last this long. In the 15 years that I have worked as a teacher, this is the longest I have gone without teaching,” said Akash. “I have never had this much free time in many years.”
For Akash, the free time has come at a huge personal expense. “Ever since the school closed, I haven’t received a single rupee in salary,” said Akash.
Akash’s case is not an outlier among the country’s private school teachers. Since the schools closed, the majority of private school teachers haven’t received their salaries, and those who have, have received only a fraction of their total salaries, according to teachers.
This has left many private school teachers struggling to make ends meet.
According to Tika Ram Puri, chairperson of Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal (PABSON), schools are unable to pay the teachers’ salaries because the government has directed schools not to collect student fees.
“Student fees are the only source of our revenue, and with no revenue coming in, how are schools supposed to pay their teachers,” said Puri.
Puri claims that there are around 10,000 private schools in the country and they employ nearly 200,000 teachers although the Economic Survey of 2109-20 the number of schools is less than 6,000 .
“During the lockdown, only around 15 percent of the schools have continued to pay their teachers some salary. Most of these schools are the top schools in the country. The rest 85 percent of schools are in no position to pay salaries,” said Puri.
On April 29, the government informed private schools not to charge students school fees for the months of Chaitra and Baisakh (mid-March to mid-May). It also said that it would provide schools with soft loans if they were facing problems managing expenses.
This, the government said, would ease the financial burden that many have had to bear due to the lockdown.
But private schools objected to the government’s decision stating the decision was made without consulting them.
A few days later, on May 7, the Education and Health Committee of Parliament further reiterated that schools should not charge fees until the situation returns to normal and it also directed schools not to enrol new students.
“Despite the lockdown, schools have been providing online classes with an aim to complete the academic year. Our teachers have been working hard to take these online classes despite the difficult time,” said Puri. “But we can only urge our teachers to continue taking online classes despite receiving no salary or only partial salary.”
(Source:TKP)