In 1983, Md Aftab Alam was officially appointed as a college lecturer at Sanjay Gandhi Mahila College in Gaya, but forty-two years have passed without receiving a salary. His appointment letter promised pay and service conditions comparable to university faculty, yet he has endured four decades of unpaid teaching, lacking an employee ID and pension benefits. Alam, who holds a PhD, continues to attend classes without formal recognition from the institution. “I taught, I evaluated papers, I invigilated exams,” he noted, stating, “But officially, it’s as if I was never there.” His only evidence of his teaching role is a deteriorating appointment letter from 1983.
Recently, the Supreme Court of India issued a ruling favoring 18 assistant professors in Gujarat, hired on contracts with significantly lower pay compared to their regular colleagues, citing a violation of constitutional protections. Justice Abhay S. Oka, leading the bench, referenced a common mantra in Indian education: “Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara,” arguing that such sentiments hold little value if teachers do not receive fair compensation. Alam and many teachers in similar situations resonate with this sentiment.
The situation extends far beyond Gujarat. Across India, teachers often earn unlivable wages; many work for as little as ₹3,000 a month, or worse, nothing at all. Alam lives in a modest rented apartment in Gaya, where he battles financial insecurity. His wife, Shamsun Nisa, mentioned that the family’s only income stems from sporadic evaluation work during university examinations, and private tuition work has dwindled since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alam began his teaching career in 1983, after obtaining a master’s degree from Magadh University. Despite his formal appointment, the college denied him regular employee status. When he inquired about his salary, he was informed he was merely a part-time teacher. An RTI application confirmed his appointment as a regular faculty member. In 2023, the state’s higher education director instructed the university registrar to address the matter, but no changes were implemented. “I couldn’t afford lawyers,” he recounted, “Sometimes I couldn’t afford two meals a day.”
India’s education system heavily relies on individuals like Alam, who consistently fulfill academic responsibilities without guaranteed compensation. The stark reality is that over 10,000 teachers are employed in 220 unaided degree colleges across Bihar, with many enduring similar hardships. At Banwari College, commerce lecturer Deepak Kumar Singh shared that he earned ₹9,000 last year, significantly less than the ₹21,000 from 2022-23, and for four consecutive years, he received nothing.
Colleagues continue to suffer due to fiscal negligence. Shankar Bhagat, a history teacher at the same institution, died of liver cirrhosis without receiving treatment. Another educator, Mukesh Kumar Mishra, is battling cancer, with financial constraints preventing his access to private healthcare. “These are PhD holders,” remarked Arun Gautam, a senior teacher and media representative for the Federation of Affiliated Degree College Teachers’ Associations of Bihar.
This neglect has become a systemic issue. A 2013 policy designed to link funding to performance-based grants for unaided institutions fell short of consistent implementation. Consequently, many teachers are paid from internal revenues, such as exam fees and certificate charges, with some making as little as ₹1,500 a month.
In Gujarat, disparities persisted across official contracts—over 450 engineers were hired as assistant professors on fixed-term contracts between 2008 and 2014, receiving around ₹30,000 or ₹25,000, while treated as temporary employees. Naitik Gor, who worked at a government polytechnic institute starting in 2013, described the burdensome demands of full-time work without corresponding benefits or a stable salary.
In 2018, over 300 contractual faculty members petitioned the Gujarat High Court, alleging that their pay disparity violated constitutional provisions. After years of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, mandating the Gujarat government to pay accumulated arrears with interest and adjust salaries to align with regular professors. However, many petitioners had already exited the teaching profession by this time.
The emotional and institutional toll is profound. Teachers hired as “Siksha Mitras” in the early 2000s saw brief regularization in 2015, earning ₹50,000, only for this to be reversed within two years, returning their pay to ₹10,000. Meenu Goswami, a Siksha Mitra in Bulandshahr, UP, recounted numerous suicides linked to the financial strain imposed by the pay cuts.
Teachers in premium schools may earn ₹60,000 or more, but such positions are scarce. Most teachers in well-regarded private schools earn between ₹25,000 and ₹30,000. “Even the fancy schools don’t offer more,” remarked Atul Srivastava, president of the Association of Private Schools in UP.
Furthermore, Uttar Pradesh’s education system is at a critical juncture, having halted teacher recruitment since 2021, resulting in schools operating with guest faculty. “There’s no pipeline anymore,” stated Dinesh Sharma, president of the Uttar Pradesh Primary Teachers’ Association, with many teachers seeking opportunities in other states.
The National Education Policy 2020 promised to restore dignity within the teaching profession, advocating for improved pay and job security, yet the realities of the system paint a grim picture for educators across India.
