All India Primary Teachers’ Federation
Status of
Para-teachers in India
Status of Para-teachers in India
 Para-teachers are not being appointed in India alone.
 They are being appointed in other developing countries too particularly
in Africa, Latin America, China:
West and Central
Africa
a) i) Senegal
ii) Niger
Half of teaching workforce contract
teachers
b) Guinea
39 per cent
c)
Togo
31 per cent
b) Cameroon
20 per cent
Chad and Ivory Coast no contract teachers
Latin America
Peru
11 per cent
Chile
20 per cent
 Appointment of para-teachers is being made at the instance of World
Bank for cost effectiveness and efficiency in education.
Percentage of Para-teachers
in India
In India, number of para-teachers is growing steadily;
About 0.7 million para -teachers;
In Uttar Pradesh alone 1.70 lakh para -teachers;
They constituted 10.48% of the total teaching workforce
in 2007-2008. Presently they may be around 15%;
Predominantly employed in rural areas (93%);
About 54% professionally untrained.
In a number of states, professional qualification is not
n e c e s s a r y f o r b e i n g a t e a c h e r. ( A P, B i h a r, C h h a t t i s g a r h ,
J h a r k h a n d , M e g h a l a y a , U P, U t t a r a k h a n d , W B )
Quality of Instruction
More than 7.7% of schools are being manned by
para-teachers alone;
Some States have stopped recruitment of regular
teachers; (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, W.B., Haryana)
Infrastructure facilities woefully poor;
Government run primary schools have become
temples of learning of the poorest of the poor.
Rate of absenteeism among para-teachers higher than
regular teachers in Peru (World Bank study);
Efficiency of para-teachers starts declining after a
period;
Depression sets in
Induction training inadequate
Generates leaders
Back door entry of para-teachers
Favoritism and corruption in appointment of parateachers
Canon of Social Justice
 Para-teachers being exploited because they are paid
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remuneration (1/4 or 1/5 ) than regular teachers;
No gratuity, No. pension
Only few states regularize their services
(Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha and H.P.)
Minimum wage (hardly sufficient to maintain family of
four members; and
This is happening in a welfare state.
AIPTF Policy
 Quality teacher for quality education
-
Teaching is a profession. Only professionals can improve
quality of education. Talented individuals need to be
attracted to the profession. They need to imparted rigorous
training to render them professional.
 Stoppage of recruitment of Para-teachers.
 Bringing Para-teachers to the mainstream
by providing them necessary professional
training.