A Study on Job Related Stress among School Teachers in Different Schools of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Context: School teachers are exposed to high level of stress. Socio-demographic variables, salary, working environment, work pressure play a significant role in causing stress across teachers of different culture. Indian study is lacking in establishing relation between different variables and level of stress. Aims: To measure the magnitude of stress among school teachers, relation between different socio demographic variables of teachers and stress and to find out if there is any difference in stress of teachers in urban, suburban and rural schools. Settings and Design: Institution based, single-centre, cross-sectional study. Materials and Method: 338 school teachers were interviewed across schools from rural, urban and semi urban area of West Bengal. Related data were collected on socio-demographic sheet and stress score was collected on Work Stress Scale (WTS). Data were analyzed by standard statistical methods.  Results: Female sex, age- 50-60 years, urban, private School, headmaster & assistant headmaster, higher paid teachers were found to suffer from high level of stress. Conclusions: Teaching is a stressful job and level of stress varies across different population. Declaration of interest – None. Key Words: School teacher, stress, Work Teacher Scale