Are We Happy As Teachers?

Rashim Mahajan

Picture this! You are freshly graduated B.Ed. student in India with new hopes and motivation to enter the education arena and implement all those psychological theories you’ve learnt while in college. You have aced your first ever interview with a prestigious private school in your city and are ready to take on the role you have prepared for all your life. A year down on the same road, you are juggling red lines for being a minute late, piles of notebooks/exam sheets yet to be checked, that uploading work on the state order still pending, uploading to be done on ERP systems, attending the calls of parents in odd hours, and still falling back on your one real job i.e. TEACHING!

Teaching, often regarded as a noble profession, is not immune to workplace challenges. In private schools, particularly in India, there has been a growing concern over the mental harassment of teachers by school management. From unrealistic workload, expectations to exploitation and lack of support, many teachers endure stressful work environments, impacting their mental health and professional satisfaction.

The teaching profession in India stands at a critical juncture, shaped by evolving educational policies, socio-economic challenges, and the enduring commitment of educators. Assessing whether it remains worthwhile to pursue a teaching career in India necessitates a comprehensive examination of current data, policy impacts, and the lived experiences of teachers. As of the 2019-20 academic year, India employed approximately 9.6 million teachers, reflecting the nation’s substantial educational infrastructure. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 underscores the pivotal role of teachers, designating them as central to the learning process and advocating for their continuous professional development. school teachers deal with daily classroom and student management challenges. They have to manage the learning environment, pedagogy with different types of students within the given learning environment, their own identity, and informal student interactions. Combined with this handling the nuisances of difficult parents, addressing the comments of disrespectful children and promoting the well beings of school managements, a teacher has been reduced to a puppet. This poorly impacts their energy levels, resulting in emotional fatigue and lethargy. Research conducted during the pandemic revealed that uncertainty, workload, negative perception about the job, concern for others’ well-being, health struggles, and playing multiple roles hampered school teachers’ mental health and well-being.

Teachers in private schools are facing exploitation similar in nature to the exploitation suffered by manual labourers in our textile mills and brick kilns, and yet very few people realise the extent and scale of this exploitation. School management sometimes engages in bullying behaviour, such as public humiliation, negative criticism, and unfair performance evaluations. Teachers who voice concerns or challenge unjust practices may face targeted harassment, including threats of job termination.

Teachers serving in the private sector have no service structure; this is the single most important reason due to which private (for profit) educational enterprises are able to employ teachers at ridiculously low salary packages. Moreover, the adoption of corporate management practices in private schools has introduced a performance-driven environment. While this approach aims to enhance efficiency and accountability, it can also lead to high-pressure situations reminiscent of corporate sectors. Teachers may experience extended working hours, stringent performance evaluations, and a focus on measurable outcomes, potentially at the cost of educational quality and teacher well-being. This shift towards a corporate ethos can detract from the collaborative and nurturing atmosphere traditionally associated with educational institutions. Teachers are unable to receive any old age benefits, study leave or maternity leave due to lack of service structure or a fair employment contract.

Private school teachers have no job security in most private schools even in the most prestigious ones. They can be easily fired or dismissed for frivolous reasons or no reason at all. Teachers are often fired by most private schools just before the long summer vacations only to save expanses despite the fact that schools charge and receive fees in advance for these vacations. This most unethical and exploitative practice has become a norm and a trick of the trade in the private sector education. Most (but not all) schools pay no salaries to their teachers during long vacations; thus, teachers are deprived of a means of livelihood for an extended period. The management frequently change the terms of employment, not providing proper documentation and using threat of non-renewal of contracts to maintain the control over them.

These all scenarios make us question our choices and as a result many young teachers leave their teaching careers or change their professions. High teacher turnover affects the consistency and quality of education, disrupting students’ learning processes and academic performance. Our policy makers should include policies which ensure well-being of our teachers by setting state owned forums or cells which listen to the problems faced by teachers daily.

About the contributor: Rashim Mahajan is a fellow at YWLPPF 2.0 at IMPRI and a teacher at Ryan International School, Amritsar.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.