Hyderabad: Vijayalakshmi, a zoology teacher employed in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) Ibrahimpatnam, went to school as per usual in January. Upon entering the premises she was met with a rude shock in the form of an unexpected statement- “Don’t come to work from tomorrow.”
Much later, Vijayalakshmi would find out that her salary, which remained due for over a year, would also remain unpaid. Vijayalakshmi along with 936 teachers across the state (937 in total) were verbally informed of their termination without notice rendering them unemployed.
“We worked everyday, we worked night-shifts, travelled using our own money and didn’t complain- but still they terminated our contracts. How can they be this cruel?” asks Vijayalakshmi.
What is KGBV and how did the termination come about?
KGBV is a central government-funded residential school programme in India. It aims to educate and empower girl children from weaker sections of society up to 12th grade. The schools hire educators under the PGCRT (Post-graduate contract residential teacher) and CRT (Contract residential teacher) categories on temporary contract basis. The teachers usually have the contracts renewed once they expire.
Kasoju Kalpana, a teacher who taught mathematics to tenth-graders in the KGBV school of Manchala, Ibrahimpatnam, says that she was left without any income during the COVID-19 pandemic months.
“The situation got so bad that I had to cook in people’s houses,” she said with a shaky voice. “Initially, I rejected job offers from private intermediate colleges to work for the government, because the income would be stable. I never expected that the government would bring me to this stage in my life.”
“They did not give us any written notice, or any report from the government as to why we were terminated. We travelled very far, worked with very young children all day, and even gave NCERT coaching during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Vijayalakshmi, who has not been credited salary nor the pension fund amount since January of 2019.
Whenever the frustrated teachers enquired about the payment, they were told that “it is being processed” and were sent away.
The government’s response:
Speaking to Siasat.com, G Ramesh, Additional State Project Director in the Directorate of School Education said that the teachers were hired on a temporary basis, and on the last working day of school, they were terminated.
“We have not given them any sort of contract because they were not employed as full-time workers.” When asked about the salaries not being credited, the ASPD said that it was incorrect. “The salaries are being processed, we have released the funds in 22 districts.”
These teachers, who were initially hired on contract basis, were replaced with other employees on a similar contract basis after they were terminated.
Subhashini, a botany teacher in KGBV Ibrahimpatnam, is yet to receive salary for the work she put in in 2020-2021. “We have been to many, many offices. The officers who assured us of our salaries being credited have all been transferred, new officers have come – but we have been left behind.”
The teachers, who faced the job crunch during the pandemic, protested outside the DSE on Wednesday. They demanded that they be paid their due salary, reinstated at their posts, and be given an explanation about why they were terminated without prior notice.
| 
