A Feedback Form is prepared for each post which contains a 5-point rating scale:

1- Very Poor, means very poor in knowledge that is required for the job, has not understood Samveda Philosophy at all, does not behave well with children, parents and colleagues. Careless and negligence towards duty and escaping from duty for trivial reasons. Does not keep up timings. Uses foul language and discriminate children, parents, colleagues and others on the basis of religion, class, caste, creed and political affinity.

2- Poor means inadequate in knowledge that is required for the job, has not understood Samveda Philosophy or has scant respect for it. Communication is not proactive with children, parents and colleagues. Careless and negligence towards duty. Uses foul language and discriminate children, on the basis of religion, class, caste, creed and political affinity.

3- Good means, has enough knowledge that is required for the job, has understood Samveda Philosophy well, behaves well with children, parents and colleagues. Duty conscious . Keeps up timings. Uses appropriate language and does not discriminate children, parents, colleagues and others on the basis of religion, class, caste, creed and political affinity.

4 – Very Good means, has Good knowledge that is required for the job, has understood Samveda Philosophy well, behaves well with children, parents and colleagues. Duty conscious . Keeps up timings. Uses appropriate language and does not discriminate children, parents, colleagues and others on the basis of religion, class, caste, creed and political affinity. Plans good events for children and staff members. Does extra work without expecting more remuneration. Manages critical situations.

5- Excellent means, has Expert knowledge that is required for the job, has contributed to developed Samveda Philosophy, behaves extremely well with children, parents and colleagues. Is a model for others in the organization. Duty conscious . Keeps up timings. Uses appropriate language and does not discriminate children, parents, colleagues and others on the basis of religion, class, caste, creed and political affinity. Designs all events required for the centre. Does extra work without expecting more remuneration. Manages critical situations. Keeps up the prestige of Samveda and is always proactive, motivated, smiling, encouraging, correcting, etc.,

An average of five informants is taken and added and divided by four ( four categories of informants) to get the Performance Appraisal Average Point. This point is further multiplied by PA Constant which is equal to 0.1 to get Performance Appraisal Point (PAP).

Each post has a Performance Appraisal Unit (PAU) in terms of rupees based on the importance of the post, basic salary and their experience. The value of the unit is fixed for each post every year. In order to pay the PAB every month the PAU is multiplied by PAP. The PAB is paid depending on the availability of Funds. The Appraisal by the informants is done once in a year.

Staff Remmuneration Fund

The financial growth of Samveda and the capital development depended entirely on the fees and donations that we received from the parents. There was no possibility of we receiving any grant from govt., as the Govt., does not have any idea of Learning Disability (LD) though Mental Retardation (MR) is known and they have grants for MR. We could not apply for grants for MR as it is not our main focus and we did not want to dilute the importance of LD by concentrating on MR for the sake of grants from the Govt., We had to invest a part of the revenues to develop basic infrastructure specially furniture, books for the library, computers and furniture for the hostel, kitchen and the rest. With all this we had to pay the rent, electricity bills and telephone and internet charges. As this is a non commercial work (Samveda Training & Research Centre ® is a Non-Governmental and a Non –Profit Organization) the Board has decided not to avail loan facilities from the banks. So from an annual revenue of Rs.2000/-( $ 45 ) in 1996 to Rs.9,00,000 ( $ 20,000) in 2003 may not look like an impressive performance but given the struggle related to awareness, Govt., grants, Parents support, etc., the growth has been slow but study. During these years the value of the assets increased from Rs. 40,000 ( $ 890 ) to Rs. 3,50,000 ( $ 7,780) in about seven years of time.

We have maintained a free and open type of management style where in all teachers’ juniors and seniors participate in monthly meetings, three of the senior staff members are members of the Executive board. It is one third of the executive committee. This is done with a view that special aspects of Samveda Remedial teaching, training and research are properly represented in the board. We have strived hard to maintain all “Good Practices” so far as accounts and management is concerned( we are a member of the Credibility Alliance).

We also spend a lot of time in training new teacher-trainees “the Samveda work culture” which makes them understand that by working here they are contributing a great deal to the welfare of the society and only earning money must not be the ultimate motive of a professional in life. There are four important things here: 1. The level of competence of a trainee 2. Their aspirations to earn high salary even though they are not well trained and competent. 3. Their contribution to Samveda- both for Training & Research. 4. After they are completely trained and have understood the work culture of Samveda and after they contribute a lot to Training methods and research, is Samveda paying them well? The fourth point haunts me. To give better salaries we need to apply for Govt., grants and now in India as Learning Disability is not on the priority list for funding (because the Govt., of India still thinks that Learning Disability is not a serious disability) this may not be possible. To collect more fees to pay better salaries is another method to raise funds to pay better salaries. But, due to the low per capita income of 80 % of the families in India, increasing the fees may not be possible. There is no awareness of Learning disabilities or Remedial teaching in the general public and Govt., and hence donors are not attracted to donate liberally. I as the chief coordinator is receiving a salary of Rs.3850/-($90)per month. The least salary is received by the maid servant in the hostel Rs.800/-p.m.($ 20). Our problem is that we have set very high standards in working and expect the best of them but when it comes to salaries we pay them very less. This inequality is unjust and unfair. Though their contribution to Samveda is not quantifiable, we personally feel some of them are contributing more than what we pay.

All these years we thought that we have produced exemplary results by mainstreaming the Learning Disabled children and we have satisfied the parents. We are also sure that we have earned goodwill in society. Although our teachers work more for satisfaction than for money, we feel if Samveda does not protect their personal interests like basic minimum salary, insurance, paid holidays, other perks for overtime work, and Performance Appraisal Bonus, it will be counterproductive. To rise their level of motivation and to improve their work culture it is necessary that we pay them good salaries. We need good teams to work with trainee-teachers and children. We got to develop good teams of teachers who understand the Samveda Remedial Teaching Model (SRTM) and the Samveda Philosophy well. This will help us to extend our services to more number of children suffering from Learning Disability.

It is my sincere appeal to International community to donate liberally to Staff Remuneration Fund and support our teachers.

Surendranath P.Nishanimut
Founder & Secretary