Education, Labor Rights, and Incentives : Contract Teacher Cases in the Indian Courts

Education, Labor Rights, and Incentives : Contract Teacher Cases in the Indian Courts

Since the liberalization of India's economy beginning in the early 1990's, the government has increasingly employed contract workers to perform various state functions, including in the education sector. Yet, little research has been done...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Robinson, Nick, Gauri, Varun
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	2012
Subjects:	ACCESS TO EDUCATION ACHIEVEMENT ACHIEVEMENT TESTS ADULTS BASIC EDUCATION CAREER CAREER DEVELOPMENT CHILD LABOR CIVIL LIBERTIES CIVIL SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE TEACHERS CLASS SIZE COLLEGE LEVEL COLLEGE TEACHERS COLLEGES COMPULSORY EDUCATION CONDITIONS OF TEACHERS DECENTRALIZATION DECENTRALIZATION OF EDUCATION DEGREES DEMONSTRATION DROP OUTS EDUCATION FOR ALL EDUCATION MINISTERS EDUCATION POLICY EDUCATION SECTOR EDUCATION SYSTEM EDUCATIONAL ACCESS EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS EDUCATIONAL DEMANDS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES EDUCATIONAL PLANNING EDUCATIONAL POLICY ELEMENTARY EDUCATION EMPLOYMENT EXAM FEMALE TEACHER FEMALE TEACHERS FIRST GRADE GENDER DISCRIMINATION GOVERNMENT GRANTS GRADUATE DEGREES HEALTH CARE HIGH SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT ILLITERACY INCENTIVES FOR TEACHERS INFORMAL EDUCATION INSTRUCTORS INTERVENTIONS JOB SECURITY LABOR MARKETS LEARNERS LECTURERS MENTAL HEALTH NON-FORMAL EDUCATION NONFORMAL EDUCATION PAPERS PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY EDUCATION PROGRAM PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIMARY SCHOOLS PRIVATE SCHOOLS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROFESSORS PUBLIC SCHOOLS PUPIL RATIOS QUALIFIED TEACHERS QUALITY EDUCATION QUALITY OF EDUCATION QUALITY TEACHING READING REASONING REGULAR TEACHER REGULAR TEACHERS RIGHT TO EDUCATION RIGHTS OF TEACHERS RURAL AREAS SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS SCHOOL LEVELS SCHOOL TEACHERS SCHOOLS SECONDARY SCHOOL SERVICE TRAINING SEXUAL HARASSMENT SOCIAL WELFARE STATE EDUCATION STATE SCHOOLS STUDENT PERFORMANCE TEACHER TEACHER ABSENTEEISM TEACHER PAY TEACHER SHORTAGES TEACHER UNIONS TEACHERS TEACHING TEACHING ACTIVITY TEACHING STAFF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TENURE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION UNIVERSITIES VISITS TO SCHOOLS WORKERS
Online Access:	http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000158349_20100720093334 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/3849

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Summary:	Since the liberalization of India's economy beginning in the early 1990's, the government has increasingly employed contract workers to perform various state functions, including in the education sector. Yet, little research has been done to examine how courts have reacted to this shift in government labor policy. This paper looks at all reported cases involving contract teachers in the Indian Supreme Court and four High Courts over the last thirty years. It finds that although almost never explicitly overturning precedent, the judiciary in India has increasingly become less sympathetic to contract teachers demands, particularly at the Supreme Court level. The paper then argues that the Court could use its power of judicial review to engage the government in a dialogue, not unlike some of its earlier decisions in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Court can help guide the government to create a labor policy that not only achieve better results for students, but better working conditions for teachers. Such a dialogic approach could potentially be adopted to help reframe the government s contract labor policy more generally.