Teachers fail to receive aid

Over 1 lakh pvt teachers excluded from beneficiaries list of Govt schemes

Adding to the already existing troubles of private schools teachers in the state since the beginning of the pandemic season is the inability on their part to benefit from the relief measure announced for them by the government.

Even though managements of private schools have uploaded details of their teaching and nonteaching staff on the UDISE portal, half of the teachers and staff at almost every school have either not received the `2000 financial aid, or have been denied the 25 kg rice offered to them by the state government.

An 84-year-old teacher at a private school in

Ameerpet, NV Pandu Rangaiah Guptha said the principal of his school has been helping him with a space to live in a rent- free accommodation, and even monetarily too as the government has not helped him and ‘even refused to acknowledge his services’.

“I have been a teacher and hence a government employee all my life. At this stage of my life, when I expect some support for my services, I have no clue why I would be denied a benefit announced for all the teaching and nonteaching staff in the state. All details have been uploaded but when I go to the ration shop, they tell me that I am not eligible,” said Guptha.

Another teacher in Shaikpet with 10 years of experience, G Krishna, said that while he received his financial aid, he is unable to take his 25 kg ration due to technical glitches which do not accept his Aadhar card number on the portal.

“These technical problems are only making things difficult for us. We are being made to run from pillar to post. The officials and workers at ration shops tell us to go to the education department. Officials there direct us to the revenue department. No gain for us, in the end,”said Krishna.

Shaikh Sayeed Ahmed, general secretary, TRSMA, Hyderabad district and correspondent at the New Lily Model School said the schools continue to suffer because of non-payment of fees by parents. There are problems of payment of salaries of teachers. Some 50 per cent of his staff members are facing trouble in receiving government benefits. “The watchmen as also aayas among other staff at school do not have their details placed on the UDISE portal, and therefore have not yet received any help from the government”, he said.

Until now, only 1 lakh 8 thousand out of the 2,10,000 private teachers in the state have received the full benefits of the government scheme, according to TRSMA general secretary Sadulla Madhusudhan. "According to the UDISE portal, the government has identified 1,45,000 teachers in the state. However the scheme clearly mentions that the financial aid and ration will be given to all teaching as well as non-teaching staff or private schools. The DEOs have randomly picked details from the portal and without any reason removed some from the list," said Madhusudhan.

He added that education officers have only taken the estimated 1,45,000 teachers into consideration and released the budget accordingly, ignoring the increased number. The Telangana Recognized School Managements Association (TRSMA) has requested the Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to release budget including the remaining approximately one lakh teachers and non- teaching staff in the scheme.