 "Teachers in Sikkim are better paid than most other govt employees")
For anyone who has seen government schools in the rest of the country, Sikkim’s primary, secondary and senior government schools are a delight to visit. Schools are, by and large, spotless, classrooms large and airy and students well turned out. Teachers are rarely absent and mid day meals — which are cooked on premises — look edible.
Be it the P R Lama senior secondary school, Miyong primary school or the Rinchenpong secondary school (all located within 5 kilometres of each other), the head masters are available, happy to talk about their teaching experience and take you for a tour.
Dilip Rai, the headmaster of the P R Lama school is the quintessential head master — bespectacled, calm, soft spoken and intelligent. Having spent 19 years in the field of education, he was promoted two years ago as the headmaster of his present school. A graduate teacher, he earns a salary of over Rs 65,000 a month, a sum he says that allows him to live comfortably in rural Sikkim, even as he educates his own two children at a private school in Gangtok.
Rai says the government in Sikkim has done many things right and the biggest among these is that teachers in Sikkim are better paid than most other government employees. Private school teachers earn far less than graduate teachers (and sometimes less than even ad-hoc teachers) in government schools and aspire to move to government schools — a move that is quite hard to make since qualifying as a graduate teacher in Sikkim is easier said than done. Almost four to five rounds of stringent tests and interviews have to be cleared before you are selected.
Easy access and a range of free goodies for children ensure that parents find it worthwhile to send their wards to school. You don’t need to go more than 2.5 kilometres to find a primary school and 6-7 kilometres for a secondary one. The government provides free school bags, uniforms, shoes, books, socks and even raincoats for all students till class VIII. Class IX onwards, students have to pay 50 per cent of the cost of books, to ensure that things are not taken for granted forever.
Students look neat and tidy with uniforms almost new and shoes sparkling. Classrooms are brightly painted and have large windows. Toilets — separate in schools that go beyond the primary section — are clean and don’t smell. There are no signs of neglect and the overall appearance hints of a sense of pride.
The free and tasty (or so students say) mid-day meals and free uniforms keep drop out rates low. “If a student suddenly drops out, the headmaster may visit the parents and convince them otherwise,” says Rai, explaining that since everyone knows each other and numbers are small, headmasters work to ensure drop outs are actively discouraged.
Teacher absenteeism is also a concept alien to them. Not only are teachers present, they are actively engaged. At Miyong primary school, teachers recently contributed money from their salaries to buy flower pots and chairs for the kindergarten. The headmaster at the school says that whenever they need money to supplement the paltry maintenance amount given by the government (Rs 12,500 a year for primary schools), teachers — they have five teachers at present for 47 children — contribute what they can from their own salaries.
Rai says teacher accountability is lower in government schools than the private ones even though the former are better paid. Supervision is a bit lax. Use or availability of computers is practically absent — the P R Lama school has no machines to speak of while the Richenpong school has 12 machines, all lying in disuse. Miyong primary school’s young head master has managed to convince the government to give him two computers for his school and students in Class 5 are taught the basics of operating a machine.
Yet, the headmasters at all the three schools are happy with their lot.
