How do Private School Teachers raise their voices against injustice? Case Studies from India and Pakistan

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Expectations from teachers are high and accountability criteria have become more prevalent and stringent than ever before. Teachers are under strict scrutiny worldwide to mitigate gender-based, socioeconomic, and racial discrimination as well as improve students’ academic performance by reducing achievement gaps, and help the world out of poverty, disease, social justice, and intolerance (UNESCO, 2023). However, the resources and support teachers receive do not match these high demands. Teachers’ work environments often have limited resources, meager remuneration, unrealistic goals, disconnect with policymakers, and unfavorable and unsafe working conditions (UNESCO, 2023).

Teacher unions and associations serve as collective voices for teachers, representing their interests, concerns, and demands to educational authorities, policymakers, and the government. They protect teachers from exploitation and advocate for better working conditions, salaries, benefits, and job security for teachers. They can influence education policies and reforms, help shape curricula and pedagogy, and help promote and organize professional development opportunities for teachers. Teacher unions and associations have special importance during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic as they have the ability to protest and raise awareness about their concerns.

The World Conference on Education for All (1990) declared that teachers’ role is integral to the provision of quality education. This includes, “trade union rights and professional freedoms, and to improve their working conditions and status…remuneration and career development possibilities…(Word Conference on Education For All: Framework of Action, 1990, Article 1.6, p. 58).’ The Dakar Framework of Action for Education for All (2000) also pledged to, “enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers.” The global normative framework recognizes the importance of teacher unions primarily with a focus on public schools which are expected to drive education for all (EFA). However, this sidelines the role that private schools and teachers play in the world today.

In India and Pakistan, the two focus countries of this panel, private school teachers constitute more than a third of the school teaching workforce. In India, of the 9.4 million primary and secondary school teachers, more than 3.3 million work in private unaided schools (UNESCO, 2021). In Pakistan, the private sector represents 37.9% of all educational institutions and 44.3% of total enrollments countrywide (Pakistan Education Statistics 2017– 2018). The two nations have some similarities in relation to their education sectors, despite many differences across their boundaries. Following centuries of colonial rule, India and Pakistan started as independent nations in 1947. In spite of the initial expectation that the state would primarily provide education, private schooling has increased over time. Globalization and the growth of private education has made labor conditions and job security for teachers in the private sector a concern across borders.

In India, schools are classified into government, private (unaided), private (receiving government aid), quasi-government, madrasas (religious schools) and other schools. Within the federal structure of India, state governments run 69 percent of the schools that employ about 51 percent of the teachers. The other categories of schools employ the remaining 49% of the teaching workforce, with 21% private unaided schools that are privately managed and funded primarily through student fee employing 37 per cent of all teachers (UNESCO, 2021). These 3.3 million teachers in private unaided schools typically experience less favorable working conditions compared to their public school counterparts on factors such as pay, access to leave, health care, pension and job security (Chudgar & Sakamoto, 2021). Kingdon (2017) argues that private school teachers’ pay is determined by the supply and demand in the market for educated persons, rather than government school teachers who benefit from a “bureaucratically set high minimum wage” influenced by political and union pressures.

In Pakistan, the lack of a robust education policy has led to the division of schooling into public schools, non-formal education, madrassas (religious schools), NGO-run schools, and private schools (Alif Ailaan, 2014). The denationalization of private education in 1979, resulted in the disproportionate growth of private schools, from 3,300 in all 4 provinces in 1983 to more than 200,000 currently all over Pakistan. With the consistent deterioration of public education in Pakistan for the past many years, parents’ trust in private schools has given strength to this sector. There are different categories of private schools. High-income private schools cater to the elite class of society while the rest are low to middle-income private schools catering to lower socio-economic strata. However, teachers in neither category of private schools have a strong tradition of unions or other formal organzations bring these teachers together.

This is true in India as well. Strong government school teacher unions seem to have some success lobbying the government for good wages and better working conditions. However, an excess supply of graduates in a labor market with high unemployment coupled with limited access to unions depresses wages and working conditions for private school teachers. The limited access to teacher unions leaves private school teachers with few avenues for collective bargaining. During the Covid-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of teachers in India lost their jobs due to school closures or suffered prolonged pay interruptions and cuts (Bose, 2021). Private school teachers also do not have access to the same level of professional development opportunities as government school teachers.

This panel includes three presentations that aim to stimulate research, conversations and positive actions by amplifying voices of private school teachers in these two countries. The first highlights overt and covert ways in which public and private teachers in Pakistan advocate for their rights. The second explores how private school teachers in India voice concerns despite the considerable challenges facing them. The third studies whether social media platforms are viable avenues for private school teachers to voice their concerns.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizer

• Amogh Basavaraj, Florida State University

Chair

• Ayesha Khurshid, Select your Organization

Individual Presentations

• The Lack of a Voice for Private School Teachers in India - Amogh Basavaraj, Florida State University

• Teachers’ Use of Social Media Platforms in Pakistan - Anum Fatima, Florida Sate University

• Teachers' Voices in Pakistan - Amber Noor Mustafa, Florida State University

Discussant

• Bhushan Dahal, Florida State University