On Friday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar revealed a major revision in the remuneration of several categories of school workers—including mid-day meal cooks, security guards, and physical education and health instructors. The announcement is part of a series of recent declarations made in the lead-up to the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
Under the revised structure, the monthly payment for mid-day meal cooks will increase from ₹1,650 to ₹3,300. Security guards will now receive ₹10,000 instead of ₹5,000, and instructors’ honorarium will rise from ₹8,000 to ₹16,000. These figures also include an annual hike ranging between ₹200 and ₹400. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Kumar stated that the goal is to improve motivation and performance among these essential contributors to the education system. He emphasized that education remains a key priority for his administration.
Kumar pointed out that Bihar’s education budget has grown remarkably—from ₹4,366 crore in 2005 to ₹77,690 crore today. He noted that this expansion has facilitated large-scale teacher appointments and better infrastructure, including new school buildings.
The honorarium for cooks had remained at ₹1,250 until 2019 and was later raised in two steps to ₹1,650. Physical education and health instructors had been lobbying for better pay and had staged protests in June to push their demands.
Additionally, the government recently set new daily minimum wage rates, fixing ₹424 for unskilled labor, ₹440 for semi-skilled, ₹536 for skilled, and ₹654 for highly skilled workers, starting April 1.
In recent months, Kumar’s government has made multiple public welfare announcements aimed at addressing longstanding concerns about pay, pensions, and employment. These include a near three-fold jump in old-age pensions, a 1.5x raise in monthly stipends for panchayat members, and greater financial powers for local self-governments.
Sanjay Kumar Jha, working president of the ruling Janata Dal (United), defended the timing of these initiatives, stating that they shouldn’t be viewed solely through an electoral lens. “The CM is simply sharing the dividends of Bihar’s development, which has taken shape under his leadership over the last 20 years,” he said.
Jha added that Kumar initially focused on laying a strong foundation for the state’s growth. Now that Bihar is ready to move into a new phase, the government is starting to return the benefits to the public. “This signals that more initiatives will be rolled out in the years ahead, driven by his commitment to Bihar’s progress,” he concluded.
