Teaching Still Remains a Highly Undervalued Profession in India. Say Experts

5th September, 2026 marks the 138th Teachers Day. Yet it seems that the society has failed to create a respectable value and financial system for the teachers of the nation. The average yearly income of a teacher, of a government school in the US is nearly 10 times compared to India. Though many flaws in the US education system have been detected, the pay seems to be on the brighter side of things. In India, unorganized public-private segmentation, gender bias, corruption and a number of other reasons continue to contribute to the declining value of the noblest profession in the world, here in India. We spoke a few experts who have extensive experience in the field of education to understand the flaws in the system and what possible measures can be taken to elevate the standards of this profession.

According to experts, America has a much more evolved set of teachers and the way teaching is done, but technically a lot of things are fairly similar. Even in 2021, 76.8% of all US public-school teachers were women. So there is this bias of women in teaching there as well. America also has a teacher pay problem. According to recent data, teachers earned only around 73 cents for every dollar earned by comparable college-educated professionals in 2024. It’s a great example where teachers are, yes, paid absolutely more when compared to India, but teaching is still undervalued relative to comparable professions. So the story, whether it’s in the US or in India, is not particularly different.

At the same time, there is a difference between public and private, just the way there is in India. There is private-public segmentation in both countries. “But of course, in India, like it is in many other spaces, the spread is very consequential. You can have teachers who are essentially doing very similar jobs but being paid vastly different amounts depending on what part of the system they happen to be working in”, mentions Sushma Bharath, Independent Education Strategist.

The gender bias discussion comes immediately after. In India, we often like to believe that women take up teaching because it allows them to manage their homes. And that seems like a very simplistic way of putting it. But if women continue to carry a disproportionate share of childcare, elder care and domestic responsibilities, any occupation where the schedules seem compatible with those responsibilities is going to be attractive, right? And teaching has historically always been one of them.

We like to call teaching a family-friendly profession because the school day ends in the afternoon and teachers get school holidays. But that ignores all the unplanned and unvalued work that goes into teaching, right? Whether it’s lesson planning, corrections, assessments, parent communication, events, training, learning or admin work.

Last but not the least, the corruption in the education ecosystem is also one of the reasons why this profession has become highly undervalued in India. Allegedly, 7 lakh for primary teachers and 14 lakhs for high-school teachers were the amount of bribes charged by people of position in West Bengal during the tenure of Ex-CM Mamata Bannerji. Eventually, there was a mass protest and the government was forced to take action and go for a re-examination for teacher’s selection. The one who is taking the bribe was someone at the top of the political system, and the one who is giving it, is doing to become a teacher. Many others lacks in the overall education system of the country have surfaced over the past few days, where we can see broken toilets and classrooms in government primary schools all across the country through many videos on social media.

Experts are also of the opinion that the authorities should lessen unnecessary tasks imposed on teachers and allow educators to concentrate on teaching, provide stronger professional development, and incorporate technology in an appropriate way. The students’ stress level should be reduced through the establishment of a healthier learning environment. The curriculum should be aligned with the requirements of competitive examinations while the development of the essential skills, creativity, ability to analyze situations, and emotional well-being of students should be ensured. At the level of higher education, the content of courses should meet rapidly changing industry needs to ensure employability. “Teachers’ opinions should play a bigger role in the process of making decisions regarding educational policies and laws”, says Mr. Praneet Mungali, Trustee, Sanskriti Group of Schools.