The government of Karnataka has announced that it will provide a relief of Rs 5,000 to unaided private school teachers in the state, today. This is after Suresh Kumar S, the state's Primary and Secondary Education Minister wrote a letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa seeking a relief package for private school teachers. He also announced a relief package for Asha workers across the state. He said, "We are announcing a total of Rs 500 crore relief package for today. These relief packages are announced to help people from different sectors during these tough times."
The Government of Karnataka has allocated Rs 5,000 to each teacher working at an unaided private school. Their expenditure for this will be somewhere around Rs 100 crore. It will also provide Rs 3000 to each Asha worker and Rs 2000 each to all Anganwadi workers and helpers. The package will benefit at least 60,000 Anganwadi workers across the state. Since the schools have been shut for a long time and children can't come to school due to the pandemic, the government has decided to provide half kilo of milk powder to each primary school student. This will be given for the month of June and July and it will cost Rs 100 crores to the state. Currently, the state is providing only rice and other pulses at the students' doorstep.
Lokesh Talikatte, Secretary, Recognised Unaided Private Schools Association, said, "We have been insisting government since last year to provide relief packages to teachers working in unaided private schools. Lakhs of teachers working in these schools have been suffering without proper salaries. We had suggested and written a letter to the government last year and even this year to provide Rs 10,000 per month. However, last year, the government failed to provide any relief packages and this year, they have announced to provide Rs 5,000. Though we welcome their decision of providing a relief package, we don't accept the amount they are providing to teachers or their families. There are over 4,16,000 teachers working in unaided private schools as per the 2019 data. According to my, only 2,50,000 teachers will come forward to claim this relief package."
Lokesh himself who owns six CBSE schools expressed that it has been difficult to run a school for more than a year now. "I had to ask the bus drivers and some of the teachers to resign and go home because I was unable to pay their salaries. Last year, the government announced a 30 per cent of fee deduction in private schools. We had agreed to it as we understand the trouble that parents have been facing. As a result, I had to manage with a limited number of teachers. Every month, the salary payment comes up to Rs 12 lakh and I am worried about the status of our schools in future."
Meanwhile, Nagalakshmi, General Secretary for Karnataka Rajya Samyukta Asha Karyakarteyara Sangh affiliated with All India Trade Union Congress, said, "Though we aren't happy with Rs 3000, we have to accept it. The Asha workers are the lowest-paid among health workers. I welcome the decision and we hope that this amount is paid on time to the Asha workers. We expected at least Rs 5,000 as the Asha workers are collecting samples of the swab for COVID-19 tests. These people are made to do every task that other health workers have been doing without proper safety gear. The government is yet to provide PPE kits, masks, gloves and sanitisers to our Asha workers."
