Physical Education Instructors Grapple with Financial Crisis Four Months Without Honorarium Compels Several Teachers to Take Up Odd Jobs for Livelihood

Physical Education Instructors Grapple with Financial Crisis Four Months Without Honorarium Compels Several Teachers to Take Up Odd Jobs for Livelihood

Bhagalpur: A severe financial crisis has emerged before physical education and health instructors appointed to promote sports and health education in government schools across Bihar. Over a hundred physical education and health instructors working in upgraded middle schools across the district have not received their honorarium payments for the past four months. Due to this prolonged financial crunch, a serious livelihood crisis has gripped the families of these educators, forcing several teachers to adopt alternative and challenging paths to sustain their daily survival.

Delays in Disbursement and Administrative Apathy

The failure to receive timely honorariums has generated an atmosphere of anger and despondency among the teaching staff:

Financial Destitution: Serving on a modest monthly honorarium of just ₹16,000, these instructors state that continuous months without salary have made it impossible to pay house rent, manage children's education, or run their household kitchens.

Absence of State-Level Allocations: Addressing the situation, district education department officials stated that financial allocations from the state headquarters for the honorarium payments of physical education and health instructors have not yet been received. The department claims that all arrears will be disbursed immediately upon receiving the allocation.

Unique Struggles to Feed Families

Lacking regular salaries, some teachers have resorted to undertaking small-scale jobs to sustain themselves and their families, drawing widespread attention:

Jhalmuri and Stationery Stall: Nishant Kumar, a physical education instructor working at Amdanda Middle School in the Sanhaula block, is compelled to operate a small jhalmuri and stationery stall outside the school premises after imparting sports and educational lessons to children. He noted that following his appointment in 2022 and subsequent struggles, his honorarium was increased to ₹16,000, yet delayed disbursements have rendered it insufficient.

Alternative Labor: Several other instructors are similarly forced to undertake door-to-door sales or minor tasks such as online deliveries to rescue their families from extreme financial distress.

Union Stance and Administrative Assurances

Abhay Mishra, district president of the Physical Education and Health Instructors Union, expressed deep concern over the situation, asserting that denying teachers timely honorariums despite extracting full-time service constitutes a grave injustice. The union warned that if pending honorariums are not cleared promptly, they will be constrained to stage strong protests before senior authorities.

These educators, who keep school children physically fit and champion sports activities, are themselves currently falling behind in the race for basic financial security. The administration and education department must take immediate corrective steps to release their pending honorariums and relieve these teachers from this undesirable struggle.