T must help us get back jobs & pay: Pvt teachers

Hyderabad: On Teachers’ Day, private schools’ teachers came out with a fervent plea to the state government to help them financially as many lost and most had to work with no pay or reduced salary in the last over a year. Teachers said that now most school managements expected them to join back with no assurance on pending dues or commitment on full salaries this year.
The pandemic even led to at least 43 teachers dying during the last 18 months, with 35 being suicides, the Telangana Private Teachers’s Forum (TPTF) said.
Stressing that the state must support them amid this crisis as they worked equally hard as government teachers, TPTF president Shabir Ali said: “While government teachers are being felicitated on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, we are struggling even for basics. There is no recognition or job security for us despite private teachers teaching more than 50% of students in the state.”
He said that the state should announce ex gratia for the families of private teachers who lost their lives during the pandemic. “All these deaths are because of the financial crisis,” said Ali, adding that many teachers had to take up odd jobs for survival as most managements did not even bother to check on them.
Of the total 52.85 lakh students in Telangana, over 31.91 lakh students are in private schools. In all, there are over 10,000 private schools in which more than 3 lakh teachers were employed until schools shut down last year. According to TPTF, hardly 50,000 teachers have rejoined as managements were unwilling to give any assurance on salaries.
The teachers have now demanded that the state should ensure that they were paid their pending salaries and management be directed to rehire those who were sacked amid the pandemic.
“The managements are not even talking about our pending salaries. They are expecting us to forgo everything and join back,” said Bhaskar R, a private teacher, adding that they should be given assurance that they would be paid full salaries this academic year.