Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Nov 5: Teachers shoulder more responsibilities than the parents in the growth of special children. But such special school teachers and non-teaching staff of the schools are in trouble as they are not even getting the minimum pay.

Under the child-centric education subsidy scheme, 178 institutions have been getting government grants in Karnataka. The special teachers and non-teaching staff serving at these institutions are not even getting the minimum wages announced by the Central government so far. At present, the teachers get Rs 13,500 and the assistants get Rs 9,000. Their state-level association has been demanding the government to double their pay from the last three years. But, as the government has not given attention to their demands, the Karnataka State Union of Service Institutions for the Differently Abled and teaching and non-teachers association have decided to hold a protest in front of the offices of the deputy commissioners of 17 districts in the state on December 3.

There are 2,500 special teachers in the state. Only those who have undergone D Ed - special education - mental retardation approved by Indian Rehabilitation Board can become teaches at the special schools. The work of the teachers is quite different from other teachers. The entire responsibilities of students rest on teachers here. The teachers have to serve with total service-mindedness. As the work demands total dedication and service-oriented mindset, of late, such schools do not get teachers.

When the special schools were closed till May, these teachers attended schools from June. Some schools adopted online education while many teachers trained the children by visiting their homes.

From June onwards, the special teachers have not got any money from the government. Particularly during the Covid times, the teachers are going through a lot of hardships. Even though the teachers and their associations had submitted requests to the senior citizens' empowerment department and the previous director, so far, their pay has not been released. The teachers are undergoing a lot of trouble. General secretary of the association Dr Vasanth Kumar Shetty says that the problems have been brought to the notice of the newly appointed director of the department and he has promised to release funds soon.