Hyderabad: Denied salaries, teachers take to odd jobs

Hyderabad: Naveen (name changed), an assistant professor has been teaching binary arithmetic, boolean algebra, digital logic and computer architecture in the introductory classes of computer sciences to the students for the last six years.

Shockingly, this assistant professor working in an engineering institution located in Keesara of Ranga Reddy district donned a new role of hamali worker for the last one month.

But, once the Gunj in Malakpet has been shut down, "I had to search for work at different places in the city." he said. Courtesy, private college management has paid only 50 per cent of his salary. He is also uncertain about whether he will be called back by the college management, forcing him to don a new role disguising his real identity.

Teaching photosynthesis to the high school students is what Rajya Lakshmi used to do as a teacher of biology working in a private school in Nallakunta. But, on Monday, she was found busy selecting mangoes suitable for making pickles against an order she sourced from her friends and acquaintances. Reason being, she has no money and the school did not pay salaries for the last two months.

Speaking to The Hans India, she said, "What I was doing during summer along with my mother to make pickles for the home have now come handy to make some money this month." Adding, the school does not pay salaries during April and May every year. Instead, we are given some money for going door to door campaign to get new admissions. This time, there is no such chance due to lockdown, she added.

However, many teachers are not as lucky as Lakshmi, particularly, in district like Karimnagar, where for Jayachand , an assistant professor in a engineering college has to seek work under the 100-day employment guarantee scheme. In places like Nalgonda, Nizamabad and few other districts the teachers are not able to pick up such work as most of them are known in the local areas. "Some are working as coolies and some lady teachers are venturing out to earn their livelihoods going from plantation works. Few more are stitching carry bags," explained, Telangana State Private Teachers Federation, president Shabbir Ali.

The situation is no different in case of the lecturers working in private schools, junior colleges, degree, polytechnic, pharmacy, management and other professional colleges said Telangana School's, Technical College's Employees Association (TSTCEA), state president A Ashok Kumar.

"We have made an appeal to the managements and the government. But, till date there no response from any quarter," he added.

But, what's coming as a shocker to them is teachers and lecturers treated evenhandedly by the management are trying to show them as working teaching staff on the rolls of their institutions for applying to get approvals from the Telangana Stae Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), through online process.