Teacher till March now runs mirchi-bajji stall for a living

Teacher till March now runs mirchi-bajji stall for a living

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  05.08.2020

After spending over 12 years in teaching, B Bhaskar has decided to call it quits and instead run a street food stall in his village in Warangal (rural). Bhaskar vowed he would never to come back to teaching as there is no security in the job. He would instead spend the rest of his life in his village. “I don’t want to go back to the city or the teaching field. If my mirchi bajji stall doesn’t run, I will take up some odd jobs,” said Bhaskar.

“Despite working for over a decade, no one came to my rescue during the crisis. So from now on, I will advise people not to become a teacher as there is no job security,” said the 33-year-old, who used to earn ₹35,000 per month as a teacher. A BSc degree holder, who also did the Hindi pandit course, Bhaskar said that he earns about ₹500-600 per day by selling fritters. Like Bhaskar, many teachers have decided to move away from the teaching field and are taking up farming or menial and private jobs to make ends meet.

“I was prepared to survive without salary for March, April, and May. I was really confident that coronavirus is not going to affect me in any way as I have tuitions lined up. I came back to the city on June 3 and tried to contact my students. One after other everyone started cancelling and by end of June, I had nothing,” said P Narayana, a math teacher who used to earn over ₹50,000 per month. An MSc holder, Narayana, who now works as a farmer in Krishna district, said it was easier in his village as cost of living is cheap and there is no burden of paying rent.

Bhaskar, who now sells fritters, has vowed not to return to teaching

Even profs moving on due to low pay

—Nirupa Vatyam

Hyderabad:

It is not only school teachers but also those teaching in technical colleges have started quitting the profession over meagre pay and lack of job security. “I was working as a head of department (HoD) until recently and was paid only ₹22,000 per month. Now, I am working at a medical store. My salary here is ₹24,000 per month and I have health insurance and other benefits,” said Mani Kanta, who was working in a private college in the master of business administration department. He also claimed that no college was paying as per AICTE norms and faculty are afraid of losing their jobs any day.

Sandeep Kumar, who used to work as an assistant professor in the electrical and communication engineering department said, “On paper, I was paid ₹50,000 but in reality I was getting only ₹25,000 per month. I resigned and drove a cab for a few days. Now, I have secured a private job.” He is now earning ₹7.2 lakh per annum. Kumar, who did his MTech and registered for a PhD, said that had the management paid him full salary he would not have thought of quitting.