Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a sweeping pay revision for support staff in government schools: the monthly honorarium for mid-day-meal (PM-POSHAN) cooks will rise from ₹1,650 to ₹3,300; for night guards in secondary and higher secondary schools from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000; and for physical education & health instructors from ₹8,000 to ₹16,000. The annual increment for eligible instructors also goes up (from ₹200 to ₹400). The decision, made public on August 1, 2025, is framed as a morale-booster for the workforce that keeps schools safe, nourished and operational.
Why this matters extends beyond payroll. School cooks are the backbone of PM-POSHAN, the world’s largest school feeding programme. Under central norms, cook-cum-helpers receive ₹1,000 per month for 10 months from the Union government; states top this up at their discretion. Bihar’s doubling of its state honorarium sharply lifts take-home pay above the central floor and could improve attendance and meal quality—both linked in research to better enrolment and learning time.
Scale is significant. The Union Education Ministry’s 2024-25 PM-POSHAN approval notes 2,45,316 cook-cum-helpers for Bihar. If all are covered by the state’s higher top-up, a back-of-the-envelope estimate suggests roughly ₹405 crore extra a year (₹1,650 × 10 months × 2.45 lakh CCHs), before any spill-overs to related costs. (Actual outlay will depend on the final number engaged and months paid.)
Improved safety and activity time are the other pillars. Doubling the honorarium for night guards addresses chronic gaps in campus security—especially vital for labs, kitchens and girl-friendly facilities—while better-paid PE/health instructors can expand sports and basic health sessions that were squeezed in many schools. Recent UDISE+ data show Bihar still trails the national average on several infrastructure metrics even as its pupil-teacher ratio has improved (PTR 30 vs India 24 in 2024-25), underlining why non-teaching support roles matter for day-to-day functioning.
The announcement also sits within a broader pre-election social-sector push. In June, Bihar raised social-security pensions—old-age, widow and disability—from ₹400 to ₹1,100 per month; in August the government released ₹1,247 crore under the enhanced pensions. Minimum wages were revised effective April 1, 2025 (unskilled ₹424/day; semi-skilled ₹440; skilled ₹536; highly skilled ₹654), which provides context for pegging honorariums closer to prevailing wage floors.
Critics will see political timing; supporters call it overdue recognition. Either way, aligning compensation for cooks, guards and PE/health instructors with the real responsibilities they carry—feeding over a crore children, safeguarding campuses, and keeping students active and healthy—can bolster the “ecosystem” around classrooms that textbooks and teachers alone can’t create. If sustained and paired with investments in toilets, electricity, libraries and playfields where Bihar still has gaps, the pay hike could translate into tangible gains in attendance, safety and learning time. The proof will lie in delivery and monitoring across the state’s 94,000-plus schools.
