Over 50,000 madrassa teachers hired under central government’s ‘quality education’ scheme have not been paid their salaries for over 2 years, reported The Times of India.
Over 50,000 madrassa teachers hired under central government’s ‘quality education’ scheme have not been paid their salaries for over 2 years, reported The Times of India.
According to reports, at least 16 states, including UP, Uttarakhand, MP and Jharkhand, registered under Centre's Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madrassas (SPQEM) have failed to pay the monthly salaries of the teachers since 2015. Graduate teachers are paid Rs 6,000 per month, while, PG teachers are paid Rs 12,000, which constitute 75% and 80%, respectively, of their total pay.
"The situation has even forced many to quit their post as teachers from the schools" TOI reported quoting an official.
SPQEM was introduced by the Union HRD ministry in 2008-09 to promote quality education at madrassas. Under it, madrassa teachers are entitled to salaries to be paid by the Centre.
“We have no clue how long these teachers will continue to teach. Perhaps, they have already stopped reporting to work in some cases,” a senior officer from the minority welfare department on condition of anonymity told TOI.
According to the data, there are 126 madrassas in Haridwar district where 313 teachers have not been paid, followed by Udham Singh Nagar which has 86 madrassas with 209 unpaid teachers. Dehradun district alone has 23 madrassas with 66 unpaid teachers while in Nainital, 16 teachers in five madrassas are working without pay.