Appointed, ignored and unpaid — the invisible teachers we cannot afford to lose

I read the recent report, Appointed, ignored & unpaid: Meet India's 'invisible' teachers (Times of India), and I felt the familiar ache of watching good intentions and urgent needs collide with bureaucratic inertia. The article lays bare a truth many of us glimpse in passing: our education system depends on people who are formally appointed but practically invisible — not recognized properly, often unpaid, denied dignity and a future.

This is not just an administrative failure. It is a moral and policy failure with consequences that ripple through classrooms, families and communities.

What the invisibility looks like

Reading the piece, I kept picturing the small but critical ways the problem reveals itself:

• A teacher who has been assigned to a village school but never received a regular salary for months — yet children show up every morning expecting the lessons to begin.
• Contractual or guest teachers whose names are on appointment letters but not on payrolls, leaving them outside benefits, pensions and social security.
• Communities that rely on these educators but have no formal channel to hold the system accountable.

When teachers are unpaid and ignored, learning suffers. Attendance falls. The authority of the classroom weakens. And most painfully, a promising young person who chose teaching as a vocation sees their commitment treated as expendable.

Why this matters beyond the classroom

I think of education as a public good that compounds over generations. When we let teachers become invisible, we are choosing short-term savings or administrative opacity over societal resilience. The stakes are large:

• Children in poor and rural areas lose consistency and role models.
• Gender equity suffers: a large share of contract teachers are women who then become economically vulnerable.
• The state’s credibility weakens when promises on paper don’t translate to lives improved on the ground.

This isn’t abstract theory — the story in the Times of India shows it in human terms: people appointed to serve but left in limbo (Appointed, ignored & unpaid: Meet India's 'invisible' teachers).

A pragmatic, humane reform agenda

Fixing this is both technical and political. We can — and must — be practical while insisting on dignity. Here are reforms I find essential:

• Immediate salary regularization: States must create a time-bound plan to clear pending dues for appointed teachers and ensure seamless payroll integration for new hires.

• Statutory recognition of contractual teachers: A legal framework that defines rights, minimum pay, and transparent tenure pathways will reduce uncertainty and abuse.

• Centralized, transparent registry: A public portal (with state-level nodes) that lists appointments, pay status and grievance resolution timelines so communities and civil society can monitor implementation.

• Dedicated budget lines and conditional central grants: If financing is the excuse, ring-fence funds tied to teacher-pay compliance; conditional transfers can incentivize states to clear arrears.

• Fast grievance redressal and legal aid: Mobile-enabled complaints, mandatory timelines, and legal support for affected teachers will deter neglect.

• Local accountability: Empower panchayats, school management committees and parent groups with access to appointment and pay data, so local voices can hold systems to account.

• Pathways to permanence: For many, regularization is the difference between a career and a temporary stopgap. Clear, merit-based regularization and training pathways will keep talent in the system.

Small ideas that matter

Not every useful reform needs a law. We can introduce low-cost fixes quickly:

• Direct Benefit Transfer to teachers’ bank accounts from the date of appointment.
• Biometric or digital attendance tied to payroll to prevent ghost-payrolls and ensure verification.
• Emergency hardship grants for teachers whose families depend on that income.

A final, personal note

I have written about governance, transparency and citizen-facing reforms across many themes. Today, when I think of these invisible teachers, I am reminded that policy is not only about efficiency — it is about respect. Every delayed salary, every unaddressed appointment, is a small moral injury to someone who chose to teach.

India needs more people to become teachers, not to be driven away by a system that calls them ‘appointed’ on paper and leaves them invisible in practice. I hope this story galvanizes not only headlines but action — by education departments, by legislators, and by citizens who believe education must remain foundational to our shared future.

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Regards,
Hemen Parekh