Teacher In Kerala Are Working As Sweeper
Update: 2022-06-02 11:57 IST
K R Usha Kumari sweeping the PSNM Government Higher Secondary School premises at Peroorkada in Thiruvananthapuram | Vincent Pulickal
A number of teachers began a new job as part-time or full-time as sweepers even after the schools reopened on Wednesday. They were among 344 single teachers who worked in 272 Multi Grade Learning Centres (MGLC) in tribal regions and provided vital assistance. On March 31, the government shut down these centres, and as a result they lost their jobs.
On Wednesday, at least 50 of them began working as sweepers, leaving their teaching positions behind. When they receive their appointment orders in the following days, the majority of the others are expected to take over their new roles.
Award-winning teacher K R Usha Kumari from Thiruvananthapuram is also one of them who has to left the job of teacher and turn into sweeper. She looked for brooms, mop, and floor scrubbers when she arrived at her new school to clean the school grounds, including the restrooms.
Usha Kumari stated that she was holding chalk and duster two months ago when she was teaching tribal pupils at the MGLC at Kunnathumala in Amboori mountaintop.
Usha Kumari isn't opposed to picking up the broom, but her family isn't so sure. She has just six years remaining in government service after winning more than a dozen state and national accolades as the finest teacher delivering education to tribal pupils at the MGLC in Kunnanthumala for the past 23 years.
She added that her children have been pleading with me not to accept the sweeper position. But she has no reservations since she want to stand independently. Her only request to the state government is that we be given a full pension after 20 years of service and that our title be changed to senior assistant. Despite her 23 years as an MGLC single instructor, they will only consider my current post as sweeper grade for the next six years.
Usha Kumari's only consolation is that her sweeper grade wage ranges from Rs 23,000 to Rs 50,200 per month, up from her previous salary of Rs 19,000 per month. Not just Usha Kumari, but 14 other teachers from Thiruvananthapuram's MGLCs have been hired as sweepers in government schools in Attingal, Varkala, and Kilimanoor.