A platform representing para teachers in the state has urged Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to enhance their monthly honorarium, citing rising living costs and mounting financial pressure on educators working in government-supported schools.

The appeal was formally submitted during the minister’s visit to Kolkata on February 14. Bhagirath Ghosh, convener of Parshwa Shikshak Oikyamanch, handed over a memorandum seeking a structured pay framework that would enable para teachers to “live with dignity in society.” He stressed that the current honorarium is insufficient in the prevailing economic environment.

According to the forum, para teachers currently receive ₹10,000 per month at the primary level and ₹13,000 at the upper primary level under a 60:40 funding pattern shared between the Centre and the state. Ghosh argued that the remuneration is disproportionately low compared to the cost of living and called for it to be increased to a more reasonable level.

The teachers were appointed through the District Project Office of the School Education Department under the Samagra Shiksha Mission for elementary education via a government order dated November 16, 2010. Despite holding professional qualifications such as B.Ed or D.El.Ed degrees, they continue to serve on contractual terms in government-aided and government-sponsored schools up to the age of 60, the forum noted.

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The platform also demanded direct transfer of the central allocation into teachers’ bank accounts and the eventual abolition of the honorarium-based system. Ghosh alleged that the state government has been indifferent to the financial distress faced by para teachers, whom he described as the backbone of the primary education system.

Meanwhile, Pintu Parui of the WBPTTA said representatives had separately raised the issue with Pradhan at another program in the city. He claimed the minister assured them the matter would be examined, adding that resolving the concerns would be easier if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in the state, while accusing the ruling All India Trinamool Congress of non-cooperation.

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