The Education Department on Monday submitted before the Kerala High Court that it has accepted the suggestion of the court to increase the salary of teachers and ayahs working in government pre-primary schools.
The court had directed the state to hike the salary of teachers and ayahs to `5,000 from `900 and to `3,500 from `600 respectively.
The government pleader also submitted that the Finance Department has to give clearance in this regard. Considering the submission, the court granted 10 days’ time for the state to file a statement and posted the case to August 1.
A Division Bench comprising Justice C N Ramachandran Nair and Justice B P Ray issued the directive while considering an appeal filed by the Kerala Pre-primary Teachers’ Association challenging the Single Bench order declaring that the state has no responsibility to pay salary to teachers and Ayahs in government schools.
The court orally observed that the state should consider restructuring the schooling system and the state should consider appointing a commission to study the feasibility. “The education of a child begins at the lower kindergarten level (LKG) at the age of three or four and not at six. Pre-school training is part of elementary education which should be provided by the state government at its cost. The state should treat LKG and UKG as a part of the primary schools,” the court said. There are 2,102 pre-primary school teachers and 1,191 ayahs working in government sector.
During the hearing, the state submitted that if the proposed hike is implemented there will be an additional expenditure of `14 crore, so the clearance from the Finance Department is needed. To which the court said that this will not be a huge burden for the state considering the noble objective it’s going to achieve.
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