Education Mitras in UP will now receive a monthly salary of ₹18,000. The government has also released a fund of ₹250 crore to disburse these salaries. This decision by the government will provide significant relief to the Education Mitras.
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Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has released funds amounting to ₹250 crore to disburse the enhanced salaries of Shiksha Mitras and instructors. Now, Shiksha Mitras will receive a monthly salary of ₹18,000. Previously, they were paid ₹10,000 per month. Meanwhile, the monthly remuneration for instructors will increase from ₹9,000 to ₹17,000. The revised salaries for Shiksha Mitras and instructors at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) have come into effect as of April 1, and the increased amounts will begin to be credited to their bank accounts starting May 1. Approximately 1.67 lakh employees across the state are set to benefit from this move.
Currently, there are 142,229 Shiksha Mitras and 24,717 instructors in Uttar Pradesh. This hike in the honorarium for Shiksha Mitras comes after a gap of nine years. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently announced that Shiksha Mitras would also become eligible for transfers. Furthermore, they and their families will be entitled to cashless medical treatment coverage of up to ₹5 lakh.
Political Debate Over Shiksha Mitra Salaries
A hike in honorariums has sparked a political debate ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Recently, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav criticized this decision, claiming that during his tenure, Shiksha Mitras actually received up to ₹40,000. He alleged that the current hike was driven by electoral fears, describing the increase—which comes after many years—as insufficient.
Legal and Policy History Regarding Instructors’ Honorariums
In 2017, there was a proposal to increase the honorarium for instructors from approximately ₹9,000 to ₹17,000; however, following a change in government, this decision could not be implemented. After a legal battle, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court initially ordered the payment of ₹17,000 along with 9% interest. The State Government challenged this order, and a Division Bench subsequently limited the payment to a period of one year. Eventually, the matter reached the Supreme Court. On February 5, the Supreme Court dismissed the State Government’s appeal and directed that the instructors be allowed to remain in service even after the expiration of their contractual terms. The Court further observed that, having served for a prolonged period, their posts had effectively become permanent. The Court also ordered the implementation of the ₹17,000 honorarium retroactively from 2017.
The Shiksha Mitra Case Also Reaches the Courts
The appointment of Shiksha Mitras in Uttar Pradesh began in 2001. During the tenure of the Samajwadi Party government (2013–14), many Shiksha Mitras were regularized as Assistant Teachers. However, in 2015, the Allahabad High Court quashed these appointments. The matter reached the Supreme Court, which upheld this cancellation on July 25, 2017. Consequently, approximately 178,000 Assistant Teachers were reverted to their original Shiksha Mitra positions, and their monthly salaries plummeted from around ₹50,000 to just ₹3,500.
This triggered widespread protests, including a major agitation in Lucknow. Subsequently, the government increased their honorarium to ₹10,000 per month and announced a recruitment drive for teachers. Following this, during the recruitment drives held in 2018 (68,500 posts) and 2019 (69,000 posts), Shiksha Mitras were granted age relaxations and bonus marks, enabling more than 13,000 of them to successfully become Assistant Teachers.
