Pay definitely matters!

Editor, Refer to the story, “Does teachers’ pay have any impact on quality of education?” (The New Times, April 15) This is clearly a rhetorical question. That popular idiom, “Pay peanuts, get monkey work”, best reflects the relationship between pay and results. Of course some teachers may be in the profession purely out of passion, because they see the occupation as a vocation. But the overwhelming majority of workers need their job to provide a living income to enable them to concentrate on the job rather than running around trying to make ends meet. It is also evident that an activity can only be able to attract the best workers if it offers attractive and competitive employment conditions, including pay and career prospects. Attractive pay is usually a reliable proxy for the quality of teaching personnel, and, therefore, an indicator of the kind of education likely to obtain. But this is a minimum condition, it does not account for the entire outcome of a system of education. Many other enabling conditions, not just adequate pay, need to be in place to ensure quality education. MK

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Pay definitely matters!