Bengaluru: Jobs on the line, teachers sell noodles to make ends meet

BENGALURU: Twelve teachers from a private school on Mysuru Road goes from door to door selling packets of noodles, at times to their own students, to earn some form of income and support their families. With on-campus classes suspended indefinitely because of the pandemic, the cash-starved school management has not paid them full salary for the past three months.
Their ordeal shows how the prolonged closure of schools has left the teachers’ fraternity in a precarious financial condition. Many are struggling to make ends meet.
A teacher in Ballari paints murals and messages on Covid awareness
“I became a teacher out of passion. I love children. Never have I felt so dejected,” said a teacher from the said group, who has been in the profession for 22 years. She spoke to TOI after selling some noodle packets to her relatives on Friday.
“It would be unfair to blame the school management (for the situation). It could not collect fees from students, not just for this year but also the past term. It is trying to help us by providing alternative work till on-campus classes resume,” she said.
The school owner runs a factory that produces agricultural and noodle-making machinery. “I asked a customer, who has a branded noodle and pasta business, to help my teachers. I pick up packets of Hakka and instant noodles or vermicelli from the customer’s factory and bring it to the school. Teachers handle door-to-door sales,” said the school owner, Srinivasa V.
The teachers sell the products to relatives, friends, neighbours and their own students. “The commission we get helps us meet our daily needs. We were called nation builders. Now, we cannot even sustain a home, let alone build the nation,” said the veteran teacher. “Our expertise is not marketing. I manage to sell 20 packets a day.”
The school conducted online classes for some grades till June 28. “Parents have not paid even the last term’s fee. Total dues stand at Rs 3 lakh; only 10 per cent of the parents have paid. There have been no new enrolments. This is an unprecedented situation,” Srinivasa said.
The school has 500 students and it charges an average fee of Rs 1,000 per month. “The faculty is like a family. We are trying our best to help them,” he added.
The teachers say they are one community which has not received any assistance from the government. “A teacher welfare fund is collected from schools annually. The government should use it in this situation,” said D Sashi Kumar, secretary, KAMS, Association of Managements of Schools of Karnataka.
Loader, graffiti artist & tailor
Many other teachers in Karnataka have been forced to take up alternative work, including odd jobs, to feed their families.
Yelsin Wilson, a physics teacher from a PU college in Bengaluru, will join restaurant chain Maiyas for loading/unloading work on July 6. “I have finished my health check-up and am ready to join Maiyas. I am ready to do any work as I have not been paid for four months,” Wilson said. “I had even enquired about employment under rural job scheme MNREGA in my panchayat, Nelguli, and I applied on kayakamitra app for a digging job. I didn’t get a response even after 15 days.”
Sudarshan, a drawing teacher in Ballari, opened a novelty shop selling bangles. Customers were few and far between, so he turned to drawing, painting murals and Covid awareness messages on walls of hospitals, temples and railway stations. The work earns him Rs 150-200 a day.
“Four to five drawing teachers from other schools are doing the same thing. A co-worker at a government school, Yellarthy Narasimha Murthy, and his friends pay for our work,” he said.
A Kannada teacher from a private school in Singasandra has got into stitching. “I applied for a receptionist’s position and other jobs, but there were no vacancies. I sought work at a neighbourhood tailoring unit, but it had no orders. I then brought out my old tailoring machine from storage and got to work,” she said. “It’s difficult to get customers. I can’t give up as my husband’s salary has been cut by half.”
Experts fault govt
Maya Menon, founder-director of Teacher Foundation, blamed the government. “It should have anticipated that schools won’t be able to reopen in June. It took ad-hoc and short-term measures. Schools were asked not to pressure parents over fees. Some reputed schools may have a financial buffer to weather the crisis, but most schools rely on fees for survival,” Menon said. “Parents who can afford to pay fees delayed the payment. It’s a big mess. The government could have asked private schools to stagger fee collection instead of taking lump sum payments.”