Shiksha mitra ₹18,000, anudeshak ₹17,000: UP's 2026 honorarium hike explained

For nearly nine years, Uttar Pradesh's shiksha mitras were paid the same ₹10,000 a month. Prices rose, regular teachers got pay commission revisions and dearness allowance increases, and the gap between a shiksha mitra and the assistant teacher in the next classroom kept widening. In 2026 that finally changed.

This explainer covers what was decided, who gets how much, when the money started, the new health cover, and what the hike does — and does not — mean for long-standing demands for permanent status.

Who shiksha mitras and anudeshaks are

Shiksha mitras work in government primary schools (classes 1 to 5) run by the Basic Education Department. They teach alongside regular assistant teachers, and in many small village schools they carry a large share of the day-to-day teaching. They are engaged on a samvida basis and paid an honorarium, not a salary on a pay scale.

Anudeshaks (part-time instructors) work in upper primary schools (classes 6 to 8). They were engaged under the centrally sponsored education programme — now Samagra Shiksha — mainly to teach art education, health and physical education, and work education, subjects for which most junior high schools have no regular teacher.

Both groups are paid through the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) offices, and both are paid for 11 months of the academic year.

What exactly was decided

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced the increase in the UP Legislative Assembly during the 2026 budget session in February. The state cabinet then formally approved it on 7 April 2026, and the government order made the new rates effective from 1 April 2026. Basic Education Minister Sandeep Singh said the increased amount would be included in May's payments.

The honorarium is paid for 11 months in a year, which is why the yearly totals are 11 times the monthly figure rather than 12.

Who benefits, and who pays

According to the figures released with the cabinet decision:

• 1,42,929 shiksha mitras in all. Of them, 1,29,332 are paid under the centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, where the Centre and the state share costs 60:40, and 13,597 are paid entirely by the state.
• 24,717 part-time instructors working in 13,769 upper primary (junior high) schools.

The state estimated the additional yearly burden at more than ₹1,475.27 crore: about ₹1,138.12 crore for the centrally supported shiksha mitras, ₹119.65 crore for the state-funded ones and ₹217.50 crore for instructors. For the Samagra Shiksha posts, the state said it would seek the central share from the Government of India — and would bear the cost itself if central approval did not come. That matters for workers because it means the higher rate is not conditional on the Centre agreeing.

How shiksha mitra pay got here

Shiksha mitras were engaged from 1999 onward, mostly from the same village as the school, to deal with teacher shortages in primary schools. For years they worked on a small honorarium of a few thousand rupees a month.

Between 2014 and 2017, the state tried to absorb a large number of shiksha mitras as assistant teachers. That absorption was set aside by the courts, and in July 2017 the Supreme Court upheld the decision, while allowing shiksha mitras to compete in regular teacher recruitment with weightage for experience. After the verdict, the state fixed their honorarium at ₹10,000 a month in 2017 — and it stayed there until April 2026.

When the Chief Minister announced the increase in the Assembly, he contrasted it with the much lower honorarium paid by earlier governments, and said there should be no delay in paying it. Opposition members, including Samajwadi Party leaders, had been pressing for a higher honorarium for some time.

How ₹18,000 compares

A useful yardstick is the state's minimum wage. For October 2026 to March 2027, the published monthly minimum wage for a skilled worker in most UP districts (Category III) is ₹15,438, and ₹17,106 in Noida and Ghaziabad. Before April 2026, a shiksha mitra's ₹10,000 was below even the unskilled minimum wage in every part of the state. At ₹18,000 a month the honorarium is now above the skilled minimum everywhere; at ₹17,000, an anudeshak's honorarium is above it everywhere except Noida and Ghaziabad.

One difference remains important: honorarium for these posts is paid for 11 months, while minimum wages and the UPCOS honorarium are monthly through the year. Spread over 12 months, a shiksha mitra's ₹1,98,000 works out to ₹16,500 a month, and an anudeshak's ₹1,87,000 to about ₹15,583.

Timeline at a glance

Health cover: up to ₹5 lakh, cashless

Alongside the honorarium decision, the government had announced cashless treatment of up to ₹5 lakh for shiksha mitras and instructors. In July 2026, the state launched the Mukhyamantri Shikshak Cashless Chikitsa Yojana in Varanasi. As reported at launch, it gives up to ₹5 lakh of cashless treatment per family each year at government and empanelled private hospitals, for teaching and non-teaching staff and their dependants in government, aided and grant-in-aid schools under the basic and secondary education departments — and it names shiksha mitras, instructors, cooks and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya staff among those covered.

When the cabinet first approved the cashless scheme in January 2026, it noted that staff and dependants already covered by another central or state health scheme (such as PM-JAY or the Chief Minister Jan Arogya Abhiyan) would not be eligible again. Ask your Block Education Officer (BEO) or the district Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) office how enrolment works in your district and which hospitals are empanelled.

Other school honorarium workers

The same year also brought a change for school cooks (rasoiya) under the mid-day meal programme. In August 2026 the cabinet raised the monthly honorarium of about 3.5 lakh cooks from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000.

What the hike does not change

An honorarium increase is not regularisation. Shiksha mitras and anudeshaks remain samvida workers: they are not on the assistant teacher pay scale, do not get dearness allowance increases automatically, and do not have the service protections of regular teachers. Teacher unions welcomed the increase but continue to ask for permanent appointment and parity with regular teachers.

Recent Supreme Court judgments have been more sympathetic to long-serving temporary staff, but scheme-based honorarium posts face particular hurdles — for example, UP's 2016 regularisation rules exclude people engaged on a fixed honorarium under state or central schemes. Our guide to samvida regularisation and the Supreme Court explains these limits.

If the new amount hasn't reached you

1. Check the month. The new rate applies from April 2026. If your April honorarium was paid at the old rate, the difference (₹8,000) should have come as an arrear with a later payment.
2. Check your days. Honorarium is paid for days worked or on approved leave; unexplained absences reduce it.
3. Ask in writing. Write to your head teacher and the BEO with your name, school, bank account and the months in question. Keep a copy with the receiving signature or stamp.
4. Escalate. If nothing happens within a month, write to the district BSA, and if needed use the state's public grievance portal IGRS (Jansunwai) at jansunwai.up.nic.in, which gives you a complaint number to track.

Tax and deductions

At ₹1.98 lakh a year, a shiksha mitra's honorarium is far below the level at which income tax becomes payable under the new tax regime (no tax on salary income up to about ₹12.75 lakh). Uttar Pradesh does not levy professional tax. Whether EPF is deducted depends on how your engagement is structured — honorarium workers under schemes are often outside EPF, unlike outsourced staff paid through agencies. Compare with our guide to outsourced and samvida salaries in 2026.

Sources

• News On AIR — UP cabinet approves increased honorarium for shiksha mitras and part-time instructors (7 April 2026)
• Organiser — CM announces 80% hike in the Assembly (February 2026)
• Royal Bulletin — Government order issued; new rates from 1 April
• GKToday — UP launches Chief Minister Teacher Cashless Medical Scheme (July 2026)
• News On AIR — Cabinet approves cashless treatment for teachers and staff (January 2026)
• Current Affairs Pulse — August 2026 cabinet decisions, including school cooks' honorarium