Rourkela: As incredible as it may seem, many headmasters in a few schools of Sundargarh district draw Rs 8,000 as their monthly salary whereas the payment of their assistant teachers is reported to be around Rs 50,000!
Such cases have recently surfaced in some elementary schools of Mundajor, Jalda and Vedavyas of Lathikata block. The disparity is being attributed to the promotion of junior teachers to the post of headmasters.
Even when a junior teacher is promoted to the position of headmaster, his pay scale is not revised and he gets only Rs 8,000 while the senior teachers continue to draw nearly Rs 50,000 as per their seniority. In such circumstances, the low-paid headmasters fail to exercise their authority over the senior teachers. This is a gross violation of government rule, locals said.
According to law, the senior most teacher of the school should be elevated to the post of headmaster in case of retirement or transfer of the headmaster of that school. But this has not been the practice in several schools of Lathikata block. Promotion of junior and inexperienced teachers has created a piquant situation in these schools.
While the seniors feel uncomfortable to work under the juniors, the inexperienced hands are scared of taking any decisive measures in the interest of the institution because of seniors’ clout.
Often, it is noticed, senior teachers come to schools at their own will and the headmasters don’t dare to reprimand them due to their seniority. In one such case, a senior, when asked about his late-coming, has threatened to take up the issue with the higher authorities saying the latter is incapable of running the school.
It is alleged that the authorities concerned have to promote the junior teachers as some seniors are reluctant to work as headmasters as the post demands its share of tasks. The deserving headmasters (seniority wise) prefer to work as assistant teachers to escape work.
While the block education officer (BEO) often glosses over such irregularities, these incidents hardly come to the district education officer’s notice, it is alleged.
When contacted, Lathikata BEO Shantamuni Surekha Haro said though there is a law in place to promote the most senior teacher to the post of headmaster, many among the seniors are reluctant to accept the position citing various reasons, such as poor health. In such a situation, they have no option but to elevate the junior teachers, the BEO explained. PNN