Hyderabad: The Special Educators Forum (SFI) has demanded uniform salaries and equal pay for equal work for ‘special educators’ who teach differently-abled students in the state. It’s members said, “Special educators were currently employed only on contractual basis on meagre salaries.”
Flagship school education schemes for differently-abled (divyang) students in the country are Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS).
The forum said that the Central government provides a dole to children with disability but has not created any special educator post’s either under the school education department. It said Children with Special Needs (CwSN) were being educated by regular teachers who were not trained in imparting special education.
The SFI believes that the ministry of labour and employment needs to pursue the matter and recommend to the HRD ministry a hike in salaries of special educators working for disabled students under SSA and IEDSS schemes in all the states.
Kalagiri Sreenu, national convenor of the Special Educators Forum, said, “The principle of equal pay for equal work constitutes a clear right and is vested in every employee —whether engaged on regular or contractual or temporary basis. Not paying such wages, despite the work being the same, is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution and amounts to exploitation. We have approached the principal secretary of school education to look into our demands.”
