Underpaid and overworked: the travails of contract teachers

On 22 August, the Supreme Court responded to a petition on low pay scales for contractual teachers in Gujarat’s government engineering colleges. The bench of Justices P.S. Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said, “It is disturbing that assistant professors are getting monthly emoluments of Rs 30,000. It is high time that the State takes up the issue and rationalises the pay structure on the basis of functions that they perform.”

The salaries for contractual assistant professors remain unchanged since 2012. Those appointed on a regular basis for similar academic duties are paid between Rs 1.2 to 1.4 lakh per month. This violates the principle of equal pay for equal work within the same organisation.

Doing the work of permanent teachers at one-fourth the pay is not the only story of disparity. What is even more lamentable across the country is the hiring of part-time teachers on what is called a ‘clock hour basis’ (CHB).

When varsities and colleges haven’t received permission to fill sanctioned positions with permanent appointments, they resort to appointing faculty on CHB. According to data from July this year, 26 per cent of the total 18,951 sanctioned faculty posts in 46 Central universities are vacant. The situation in state universities is much worse. In Rajasthan, 1,597 of the 2,512 sanctioned posts are vacant across 16 universities. Of these, five state universities are operating without a single permanent faculty member, as per a Times of India report.

In Maharashtra, colleges and universities are heavily reliant on CHB teachers because recruitment has lagged way behind requirement. Of the 53,178 sanctioned positions, nearly 7,000 remain vacant. More than 60 per cent of teaching posts lie vacant in at least five of the 11 state universities. These include the universities of Mumbai, Pune and Kolhapur.

CHB teachers are paid a measly Rs 400–800 per lecture, with a maximum of 30 lectures a month and zero benefits. With unpredictable workloads and re-appointments reviewed annually, they have no job security. Their situation is similar to daily wage workers.

Prof. Chandrashekhar Kulkarni, general-secretary of the Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union has warned, “By normalising CHB positions, the government is casualising higher education… the dignity of the profession is lost.”

One side effect of this problem is the proliferation of private universities, which in itself may not be a bad thing, unless poorly regulated and out of reach. With limited state regulatory capacity and oversight, the situation can become desperate even for the faculty at private colleges.

The growing reliance on underpaid, undertrained and insecure teachers has lowered incentives for long-term academic investment, research and mentoring. In many colleges, permanent faculty focuses on administrative roles, while day-to-day teaching is left to CHB instructors juggling commitments across multiple colleges. The teacher shortage crisis is compounded by a collapse of trust in government-run education.

Not surprisingly, there is an exodus of students from government colleges and universities to private ones. For instance, in the July frenzy for admissions to junior colleges across Maharashtra, it was revealed that 300 colleges, fully funded by the state, had received zero applications. These colleges receive grants for staff and faculty salaries but have no students — a revelation shocking enough for the Bombay High Court to take suo motu cognisance and initiate legal proceedings.

The combined effects of teacher shortages, contractualisation and shadow-schooling are devastating for India’s long-term competitiveness. It leads to poor learning outcomes and misaligned workforce skills. That might explain why the unemployment rate of college-educated youth — in the age group 24 to 29 — is more than 30 per cent. Graduates fresh out of college are unable to secure employment.

Take the Generative AI sector. According to TeamLease Digital, a tech professionals hiring platform, only one qualified engineer exists for every 10 open positions. The electronic manufacturing sector, especially smartphone production, lacks both blue-collar workers and skilled engineers — which means ‘Make in India’ rings increasingly hollow.

Ajit Ranade is a noted economist. More of his writing may be found here

Article courtesy: The Billion Press