Daleel with SP Singh – On Teachers’ agitation, salaries, education policies & politics
3,608 views · Published 5 November 2018 · 45:31 · Indexed 1 October 2026
Channel: PTC NEWS · 2018 · News & Politics
As Punjab polity grapples with the problem of a clutch of teacher varieties, and more than 8,000 teachers find themselves in a peculiar cleft-stick where they are expected to take a massive salary cut of nearly 64% to be counted as government teachers, we debate the underlying causes of the problem. On the panel: 1. Dr Kuldeep Puri Educationist, Panjab University, Chandigarh 2. Didar Singh Mudki, Teacher, Suspended at the time of this debate President, SSA/RMSA Teachers Union, Punjab 3. Sucha Singh Khattra Veteran teacher/Unionist 4. Prof Arvind Indian Inst. of Science Education & Research, (IISER), Mohali The panellists spend a considerable time dwelling upon the National Education Commission (1964-1966), more popularly known as the Kothari Commission that had the brief to examine all aspects of educational sector in India, evolve a general pattern of education and to advise guidelines and policies for development of education in India. Among its recommendations were a clause about the “Status, Emoluments and Education of Teachers” wherein it said of all factors determining quality of education, and national development, the teacher is undoubtedly the most important. "Teachers must, therefore, be accorded an honoured place in society." Their emoluments and other service conditions should be adequate and satisfactory, having regard to their qualifications and responsibilities. Also, that teachers should have the academic freedom to speak and write about significant national and international issues. The Kothari Commission report, in the course of its chapter 3 on Status of Teachers, also said, “If society is to develop economically, socially, then we will have to pay our teachers better to bring better talent to teaching.” To quote further: “If you create disparities among teachers, we will be introducing "undesirable caste system" in education.” I wish I had remembered to quote the UGC report by Dr S Radhakrishnan that, when talking about the "Present status and salaries" of teachers, said, “We will have to enhance the development of teachers at school level….If the salary of teachers remained low, all sectors will be poorly affected.” The fact remains that a majority of Indian children still attend government schools, and in Punjab, a majority are from “reserved” communities and minorities. In all of this, it is necessary to keep in mind some defining facts, including that our country is home to 1/4th of world’s undernourished population, has 1/3rd of world’s underweight children, has 1/3rd of the world’s food-insecure people, and as per the SECC Census, 67 crore Indians in rural areas live on Rs 33 per day. Also, more than half of rural households depend on manual labour and 75 % of rural population (14 cr families) earn less than Rs 5,000 per month. With just 3.5% of GDP spend on education, the country ranks among the top five nations for out-of-school children. This episode was first telecast on November 4, 2018. Feedback, suggestions welcome at [email protected]. Also, please help spread the word about DALEEL, an effort at cerebral television in times of dumbing down of the news media. Thank you for watching. DALEEL WITH SP SINGH is ordinarily telecast every Sunday at 8 pm on PTC News. The repeat telecast is at 2 pm the next day, Monday. Please check listings as TV channels often change schedules without notice. So, check out the time, and since it may still change, do not bet your money on it. https://www.ptcnews.tv https://www.facebook.com/ptcnewsonline PTC News , Punjabi News,Punjab Latest News,Latest News from Punjab,Punjab News Headlines,Top News from Punjab
