“Cheecher,” called Manu*, in a feeble voice. His shoulders drooped, eyes downcast, Manu wasn’t looking at his teacher Remya*, but her tear-filled eyes were fixed on him as she patted on his back in appreciation, and he squirmed at the touch. It was a big moment for Remya.
Manu, a 10-year-old on autism spectrum, has been her student for four years, and it was for the first time that he was calling her. As she gifted him a colour pencil for the achievement, Remya’s eyes welled up. “These are one of those milestone moments in a special educator’s life. A tiny progress like pointing at the right picture, uttering a name or indicating pain is huge for us. Because that’s how our efforts pay,” she says.
Remya, who has been working as a special educator in a private special school in Thiruvananthapuram for over six years, has been drawing a monthly salary of Rs 7,000. It is a meagre amount compared to the salary of her counterparts in regular schools.
The school where Remya works is being run by a charitable trust. A majority of the students have been enrolled there for free, while others pay a nominal fee. The school principal, who doesn’t want to be named, says she is helpless. “We have 16 special educators to teach 115 students, and we have been struggling to pay even this salary regularly. The teachers with over three-and-a-half decades of experience are being paid Rs 10,000. That’s the maximum we can afford to. We have been demanding better pay for our staff, but nothing happened so far.”
Remya’s is not the only case. Many special educators, who dedicate their life and career for children with special needs, are severely underpaid and lack the attention they deserve. A special educator needs to be extra patient and has more work load. “Even the law stipulates that special teachers' wages should be more than general teachers, with Rs 150 daily allowance added to the pay scale. But the government hasn’t yet recognised the post of a special teacher on par with a general government teacher,” points out Vinod, state secretary of Kerala Special Teachers’ Association.
Stress factor
The stress levels and hard work special educators put in should require greater attention and recognition. M P Karunakaran, state president of Parivar, an association of parents of children with special needs, says, “There are special teachers who have over 25 years of teaching experience and still earn less than Rs 10,000 a month. They deserve at least 25% more pay than government teachers who look after healthy children. We have sent several proposals, but no action has been taken yet. This despite the fact that Kerala government is batting for inclusivity in education sector.”
Karunakaran says: “There is only one government-run special school for children with intellectual disability in Thiruvananthapuram; the rest are private schools run by NGOs and trusts, which pay special educators according to their whims. And none of the schools fall under the purview of the Education Ministry.
“Teachers attached with the Buds Schools (free and open schools for mentally challenged children from poor families that are being run with funds from local self-governments and are managed by the Kudumbashree’s Self-Help Groups) receive decent pay. Many schools run by charitable trusts receive huge donations and for them, it is a profitable business. But teachers who toil hard do not get their due.”
Heavy workload
The workload of these teachers, most of them women, is beyond comprehension.
Vinod, who is a resource teacher (a specialised educator appointed under Samagra Shiksha to give special assistance to help students with learning difficulties as part of inclusive education for the disabled) in charge of more than 60 children with special needs in two government schools, explains his schedule. “Every week, I work two days in each of the schools. I spent one day for home enrolled education where I train children who cannot come to schools due to their poor health. These homes are at far-off locations with no basic facilities of transportation or living. On Saturdays, I conduct remedial classes for children who need special attention. If there are no camps or awareness classes, I will get a free day on Sunday.”
Poor fund allocation
The pay scale of resource teachers has taken a hit due to poor fund allocation by the Centre under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) project. Vinod says: “Three years ago, our basic pay was around Rs 29,000, but now, Central funds are cut and we receive around Rs 25,000 as our basic pay. We receive no other allowance for travel or extra working days.”
The burden on resource teachers is getting heavier day by day. Vinod adds, “Resource teachers are actually meant to guide the teachers to help special children, what happens is that they end up teaching all the children who require special attention due to learning disability, behavioural problems and those with special needs. The other teachers think that only healthy students are their responsibility and the rest, are ours. And the resource teachers have to teach all the subjects to all these students, many of them who require individual attention and care.”
For children with intellectual disability, one-to-one attention is very important but there is a dearth of around 500 resource teachers in the state. “Due to poor pay packages, many of them refuse to take up jobs. Those who work on meagre pay continue in the profession due to the attachment they have towards the kids and the compassion left in them,” says Karunakaran.
“Government schools appoint resource teachers only if they have a minimum of five students with special needs, but what if there are only four kids?” asks Karunakaran. “Under the Right to Education Act, each child is entitled to free education at a school on one kilometre premises of their residence. But if there are no facilities, what should our children do? Private management schools blatantly disregard RTE, and the parents are forced to pay hefty fee, just because there are no government schools for them.”
In order to find a solution to this issue, the state government has proposed to admit special children to government schools, but it has not enthused the parents.
One might think why these parents are against the idea of inclusivity as proposed by the government. Here’s the answer. “The idea of inclusivity is a good thought. Special children studying with healthy kids will bring them more acceptance, helping kids to live in harmony – that’s the idea. But not all children with special needs can fit into normal school atmosphere; that’s a fact,” opines a Malappuram-based teacher, who has worked at various special schools in the state.
She also points to another issue. “Special education is not always about ‘formal education’, because many of these children with special needs would not require learning a skill or a subject. All they need is care and love. Someone to help them have their food, and do their daily chores. They know nothing else.”
*Names changed to protect identity of the respondents
(Vandana Mohandas is an independent journalist based in Kochi)
