Sans salary, it's colourless Teachers' Day

PATNA: This year's Teachers' Day on Monday is completely shorn of colour for a large number of school and college teachers of the state. Salary blues continue to haunt them. They have not been paid their salaries for the past four to six months, making life miserable. Two square meals have become a problem for a large number of them.
The government has been making promises that the salaries would be paid soon, but the hopes get belied every time.About a week back, principal secretary, human resources department (HRD), Anjani Kumar Singh held a meeting with the officials concerned and instructed them to ensure salary payment by September 4, but this deadline has expired without any succour for teachers.
About three weeks ago, official sources had said that funds had already been released for salary payment to school teachers, and the matter was getting delayed due to procedural reasons. But the fact that both school and college teachers, including nearly 2.10 lakh lowly-paid fixed-pay teachers, regularly face delay in salary payment is proof enough that there are systemic problems with government procedures.
Some teachers, whom this correspondent talked to, were cagey about going on record with their grievances. A teacher of Kamla Nehru Uchch Madhyamik Balika Vidyalaya, Yarpur, located at Gardanibagh, said she had not been paid salary for the past five months. "This has caused a state of depression among teachers and they are not able to concentrate on teaching. There is no respect for teachers. Only Teachers' Day is celebrated as a formality once a year," she lamented.
She added, "Our family budget has gone haywire. We have to pay a monthly installment of Rs 8,165 against our home loan, which has become quite an onerous task. I shudder to think of those male teachers who are the sole bread earner of their families."
Another teacher of the Government Girls' High School, Boring Road, which is at present located near Dak Bungalow roundabout, had similar complaints. She has not been paid salary for the past six months. "What is worse is that there is no information or indication from the government when we can expect salary payment," she said.
The college teachers are in no better position. There were indications that they would be paid their salary by Eid. The cabinet recently sanctioned funds to different universities, but they, too, are yet to get their salary. "In the case of college and university teachers, old issues that had been settled earlier are raked up from time to time and we are made to go without salary for prolonged periods. The state government whose credo is 'sushasan' ought to be more sensitive to our travails," said a Patna Science College teacher.