UP: Six Years On, Central Govt Deprives Madrasa Teachers of Salaries

Lucknow: This year's Teachers' Day on Tuesday is completely shorn of colour for many madrasa state teachers. Salary blues continue to haunt them. They have not been paid their salaries for the past six years, making life miserable. Two square meals have become a problem for a large number of them.

The government has promised that the salaries would be paid soon, but the hopes get belied every time. About two years back, madrasa teachers from across the state protested for pending salaries and met with the officials concerned. Still, this deadline has expired without any success for teachers.

Some teachers NewsClick talked to were cagey about going on record with their grievances. Mohd Azam, a Darul Uloom Hussainia Imambara teacher in Gorakhpur's Diwan Bazar, told NewsClick that he had not been paid a salary for six years. "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," he said.

He has been teaching at Darul Uloom Hussainia Imambara for the last 28 years. Still, ever since the Madrasa modernisation scheme run by the Central government started, till now, the government has not been able to ensure the system of giving salary for the month. 

Around 163 madrassas in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's home turf, Gorakhpur, are associated with the modernisation plan. Under this, about 489 district teachers teach modern subjects, including Hindi, English, Science, Mathematics and computer.

“In every madrasa, three teachers get a salary from the Central government. These teachers are to be paid a monthly salary of Rs 15,000. Of this, the Centre pays Rs 12,000 and state Rs 3,000. These teachers have been deprived of the central share of their salary for the last six years despite repeated requests to government authorities through various channels,” he told NewsClick. 

Starvation and lack of treatment have claimed the lives of dozens of teachers, several switched professions and driving e-rickshaws for their survival. 

Mehjbeen, another teacher, said that despite conducting several surveys and inspections, the Central government has not released their pending salaries for the last 72 months. 

"The state government shares its share, which is Rs 3,000, but how can we survive on such a minimal amount? Despite inflation skyrocketing since 2014, there has been no increase in the state share," she told NewsClick. 

Another teacher in Siddharthnagar had similar complaints. He has not been paid a salary for the past five months. "What is worse is that there is no information or indication from the government when we can expect salary payment," he said.

Around 21,000 Madrasa teachers in the state are hired under the Centre’s scheme to modernise the Madrasas – Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas (SPQEM). Around 7,000 madrasas are registered under the scheme in UP. In each madrasa, there are three teachers assigned to teach non-religious subjects. 

The Scheme to Provide Quality Education in Madrasas comes under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and aims to provide "modern, quality education" in every madrasa across India. Under the scheme, people with graduation or a post-graduation degree were hired to teach math, science, English and computers in madrasas.

Madrasa union leaders accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "fake promise of modernisation of push", saying teachers are tired of the government's callous attitude after years of service. They do not have the courage left to give service in the madrasa. "The government should have mercy on us. Due to lack of money, it is difficult for us to buy medicine," Shahab, a union leader, said.