Teachers’ association demands Covid-19 health insurance

NAGPUR: As school reopening date inches near, many teachers from private unaided schools are demanding cashless Covid-19 health insurance. With overwhelming majority of private schools offering either minimal or no health insurance, teachers are fearing the financial hit they might have to take if hospitalization is required.

Teacher from a private CBSE school said that so far school management has not made any statement. “Initially in our school there were some talks of teachers being offered insurance cover as an incentive to rejoin. But that’s all gone now as even management knows that teachers have no choice but to come back to campus, else we could face job cuts,” the teacher said.

CBSE School’s Staff Welfare Association (CSSWA), a city based organization, says it must be made mandatory for every school to provide health insurance to teachers. Deepali Dably, president of CSSWA said, “Even some of the big schools don’t provide health insurance to their staffers. And in times like these when teachers are risking their lives to come to campus, it is the management’s moral responsibility to provide some type of health cover.”

Another teacher, who did not wish to be identified said, “We heard that in some schools the management is eager to reopen, because that will make it easier to recover pending fee. However it’s a risky way as far as we are concerned.”

Nago Ganar, MLC (teachers constituency) said it is the responsibility of the private school management to provide all the necessary covers to teachers. “Even if salary level of private unaided schoolteachers is at par with that of their aided counterparts, it can be of some help,” said Ganar.

In government and private aided schools, primary schoolteachers’ salary is around Rs40,000 per month while for high schoolteachers it is upward of Rs50,000. Depending on seniority, the pay scale varies. Senior principals’ gross salary is around Rs1.30 lakh per month.

Another private unaided schoolteacher said, “Aided schoolteachers also get free medical cover. So we hope the government treats us at par and mandates our management to provide cashless Covid-19 insurance.”