Among all the professions where employees are expected to work even on their days off is - teaching services. As a teacher, you could work in an office setting, as well as at home on the weekends (tutoring and tuition). Additionally, there are all the other issues such as disciplinary problems, overcrowded classrooms, entitled kids, uninformed parents, etc. that all seem to occur at the expense of the teachers. Teachers, before receiving their first cheque, which is equivalent to three weeks' pay, must mandatorily complete long hours of training and six weeks duration of the school. After which, at the end of each month, they are paid for three weeks. As a result, even though they have completed their required number of hours, they won't receive their last payment until the following school year. The summer holidays are also a sort of restricted time for private teachers to take personal holiday space or get overtime pay for their extra work.

Teachers can be almost equated to underpaid babysitters that teach your children to read and write, and at one time also taught you the same life skills. Yet, some will bluntly argue that "You just have to teach, as simple as that," in a plain ignorant manner. For residential teachers, working hours are longer than for day-scholar teachers; their chores start with morning studies from 5 AM to 7 AM, class hours from 9 AM to 1 PM, and evening studies from 4:30 PM to 7 PM, including other duties. All in all, the total working hours are from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., i.e., 13 hours of service on average. The average salary for 13 hours is 300 rupees, and if you are a residential teacher, you have 24 fewer hours than casual labourers, who mostly receive 600 to 1000 rupees per day for 9 hours of work.

If the talents employed and the hours spent on teaching are not respected, then the numerous hours of alleged personal time that instructors use without pay, the overtime without OT, the extra classes and training, etc. during the holidays, and more are all in vain.

When asked about why teachers should be one if not all, of the highest-paid jobs, a teacher teaching in a private covenant school in Poma, Papum Pare district, Arunachal Pradesh, quotes "If we complain about the pay scale, people will say just to leave the job, many unemployed people are ready to take the job in our place. They do not know most of the teachers are resigning because of this underpayment and exploitation. They don't realise that more often than not, private teachers (mostly residential) spend money out of their own pockets to provide materials for kids to use in classes."

Our school system has a huge amount of bureaucracy, and instead of funding the classroom, all the money goes into illegal financial activities. Where the money is spent is the primary issue with teachers' pay, not how much is being put in. This article doesn't aim to whine, but rather to explain how the 9 to 5 (and more hours) system works for a teacher in a private school and why they ought to be compensated for their knowledge, abilities, and tenacity. The least we can all do is show respect for teachers, whether they work in the public or private sector, as they are the foundation of our country.