Work 45 hours a week, Maharashtra state tells school teachers

While the Right To Education (RTE) Act will ensure that quality education is provided to each child, it will mean more work for the teachers. As per a government resolution (GR) released on Wednesday, school teachers will now have to work for nine hours instead of the stipulated six hours.

The act increased the working hours for teachers from 30 to 45 hours per week. The teachers are to use this time in taking extra lectures for students who failed in Std I to VIII and have been promoted as per the RTE guidelines, the GR stated.

A teacher from an aided school in Mahim, said, “Even the labour laws allow industrial workers to work for eight hours. Our condition is worse than them.”

A principal of an unaided school in Sion said: “Our teachers have not even received their salaries based on the sixth pay commission. Why will they work extra hours without any incentives? Also, it is very difficult to train students who have failed more than once.”

The GR said that teachers, subject teachers, and principal would be responsible for a student’s failure and also for his improvement in the failed subjects.

However, some schools have accepted the act with all its limitations. Nazma Kazi, principal of Anjuman-I-Islam School in Byculla, said, “Most teachers already spend more than six hours in school. If it is a clause in the RTE, nobody can refuse to follow it.”

The GR said schools refusing to promote failed students to a higher class would face severe action. It also said that failed students could take admission in higher classes in some other school as well.