The education department has told the high court that it will raise the salary of pre-primary school teachers from Rs900 to Rs5,000 and ayahs from Rs600 and Rs3,500.
The finance department’s final sanction was awaited, the state government submitted in the court on Monday. The state would have to spend an extra Rs14 crore for this, the affidavit said.
Considering the submission, the court granted 10 days for the finance department to take a final decision and posted the case to August 1.
A division bench, comprising Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair and Justice B.P. Ray, observed that the state should consider restructuring the schooling system. The state should consider appointing a commission to study student shortage, facilities at schools and other aspects so that children, both poor and rich, got quality education.
The court observed that the State should also consider pooling of teachers so that students didn’t suffer. The court was disposing of a batch of petitions, including the one filed by the Pre-primary Teachers Association, seeking raising wages of teachers and ayahs.
Petitioners challenged the single bench order declaring that the State had no responsibility to pay salaries to pre-primary teachers and ayahs in government schools.