Thiruvananthapuram: As the State celebrates International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Saturday, joining in will be a group who play a significant role in taking care of differently abled children in State schools – resource teachers, though they are yet to get paid for the past three months.
There are 800-odd resource teachers in the State, 96 of them in the district, under the Inclusive Education for the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IED SS), a Central scheme to bring the special children into the mainstream. The teachers help in preparation of teaching-learning materials for such students, peer tutoring for improvement in learning, confidence, interpersonal and communication skills, and conduct parental awareness programmes. Their challenge is compounded by the fact that they have to assist children with issues ranging from visual or hearing impairment to autism and cerebral palsy.
The resource teachers, however, are yet to get paid for the past three months. They have not got salaries since Onam, when they were paid for three months together. Funds are yet to be received from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, it is learnt.
Even the salary paid during Onam was paid by the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan using funds under other heads, teachers say. “For the past three or four years, after an initial delay in getting salary, no hiccups were being experienced,” a teacher who did not wish to be identified said.
The teachers have already knocked at various doors and approached Ministers to get the salaries.
There is no job security either. They work on contract, which expires in March every year. The teachers then have to run from pillar to post to get it renewed. This year, it was middle of June by the time the teachers were back at their jobs. “It is a stressful experience getting the contract renewed. The uncertainty weighs us down the entire year, and takes away the satisfaction of looking after the differently abled children,” a resource teacher in a leading school in the city says.
Moreover, they do not get any benefits. “We get only a consolidated pay. We retire with no benefits after putting in years of service. We too have families, health needs, and commitments. Some of us are sole earning members in our families or having regular jobs.”
Rules framed by the Centre for implementing the scheme lay down that resource teachers are entitled to the same service and pay benefits as other teachers. The teachers have held a number of protests against the neglect meted out to them, but to no avail.
Lack of funds has also affected training programmes for the resource teachers this year, it is learnt.
“There is no one to look after us once we retire. Are we being punished for looking after the needs of children with special needs?” a teacher says.
