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To provide ‘qualified’ teachers in schools, colleges, and degree colleges under it, the education department of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has awarded a tender worth Rs 3.4 crore to a detective agency.
The BBMP order, dated November 6, states Appu Detective and Security Service has bagged the contract to outsource teachers to BBMP schools and colleges in South and R R Nagar zones.
According to BBMP sources, the civic body had been engaging another agency, Crystal Infosystem Private Limited, for the last 15 years to outsource teachers to its schools and colleges.
However, after reports of underperformance in many BBMP schools due to unqualified teachers, the civic body started a fresh tendering process under which Appu Detective and Security Service bagged the contract to provide qualified teachers to schools.
Meanwhile, the education department of BBMP also found out that 30 per cent of its teaching staff had not passed a diploma in teaching or the Teachers Eligibility Test, thus rendering them unqualified and inefficient.
Currently, the BBMP has over 700 teachers on a contract basis across, nursery, primary, high school, PU, and degree levels.
However, the BBMP decision has sparked concerns about job security among its school teachers who fear that to deploy qualified teachers, those with experience of 10-15 years will also be sacked.
Srinivas Murthy, president, Outsourced Teachers Association, said, “Giving the contract to a detective agency for providing school teachers is absolutely ridiculous. The fact that BBMP teachers are on a contract basis and are outsourced will make children think less of us”.
“We have not been paid salaries for the last three months by the agency. Moreover, as a PU teacher with more than 13 years of experience, I am sanctioned to get a monthly pay of Rs 25,000. However, the agency deducts Rs 5,000 as service tax and other deductions and I end up getting only Rs 20,000. This is the case with all the teachers who are on contract,” said Murthy.
He added, “How does a detective agency with no educational background provide quality teachers? We are demanding that BBMP’s education department suspend the policy of outsourcing teachers. Let BBMP itself recruit teachers as guest lecturers and pay them directly.”
The Association has also submitted a memorandum to Preeti Gehlot, Special Commissioner (Education), BBMP, demanding equal pay for all BBMP teachers, suspension of the provision of outsourcing teachers through contracts, and an increase in primary and nursery teachers’ salary by Rs 5,000, high school and PU by Rs 10,000, and that of degree and postgraduate teachers by Rs 15,000 from their base pay.
A BBMP high school teacher under the R R Nagar zone said, “We are worried. Teachers with more than 10 years of experience will be sacked, given the change in the tender. As high school teachers, we are being paid Rs 18,000, despite demanding equal pay as other teachers for the past many years. A resolution in this regard was also passed in the council earlier directing BBMP to implement equal pay for teachers. But it is still not implemented”.
A BBMP education official told The Indian Express the detective agency specialises in human resources, including securities, computer operators, and teachers, among others.
“The BBMP will not be taking all the teachers provided by the agency. The screening committee under the education department will scrutinise the eligibility of these teachers and check if they have all the required qualifications for teaching. Only then will we accept them as teachers,” said the official.
He added, “As for equal pay for teachers, the council had approved the resolution but it was rejected at the government level for various reasons. The BBMP had allocated Rs 28 crore for salaries for the education department during the 2023-24 budget. To cater to the demands of the association on increasing their pay, the BBMP will be looking into enhancing it in the 2024-25 budget.”
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