New payscale for madrassa teachers soon: CM

PATNA: Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar on Monday said contractual teachers of state-funded madrassas would now be given “payscale” on a par with the Niyojit teachers of the government-run schools.
Addressing a function after laying foundation stones for new buildings of the Maulana Mazharul Haque Arabic and Persian University (MMHAPU) at Mithapur institutional area here, the CM said the formalities in this regard would be completed in next few days.

The CM said the permanent teachers working in state-funded madrassas would now be given the salary as per the recommendation of the Seventh Pay Commission. “I had already announced this at an event in Purnia recently. But I again assure you that the state government is committed to providing the salary of the Seventh Pay Commission to the madrassa teachers,” the CM said.

“The move will almost double the take-home salary of contractual teachers of the state-funded madrassas. Around 8,500 contractual teachers working in all three categories (1128, 205 and 609) of state-funded madrassas will be benefited from this decision,” All Bihar Madrassa Teachers’ Association general secretary Mohammad Shahabuddin Rahmani told TOI on Monday.

Rahmani said nearly 5,000 permanent teachers working in 1,128 category of madrassas would be benefitted from this decision of the state government. He said these teachers were already getting salary of the Sixth Pay Commission.

Recalling the role of Mazharul Haque in the country’s freedom movement, the CM said since MMHAPU is named after Haque, the new buildings should be ready before the Independence Day in 2020.

The Bihar State Educational Infrastructure Development Corporation (BSEIDC) has been given the task of constructing the buildings as per the approved plan. The five-storey buildings will be constructed with an expenditure of around Rs 94 crore while campus will be spread in 5.04 acres of land.

Reminding the deadline of August 15, 2020 for completion of the construction work, the CM called the BSEIDC managing director Arvind Kumar Varma, who was sitting on the front side of the dais, and publicly enquired from him whether his corporation would complete the task before August 15 next year. To this, Varma nodded his head.

Nitish asked the university vice-chancellor Khalid Mirza to develop the institution in such an exemplary way that people of other states are compelled to say if Bihar can develop an ideal university for Arabic and Persian, why not us.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and education minister Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma also addressed the function.