Hyderabad: Budget schools face 25% dearth of teaching staff

Hyderabad: Although the schools are set to reopen on July 1, with full preparedness, there is a dearth of 25 per cent of teaching staff in all the budget schools across the State. It is said that several teachers, who left the State citing the closure of schools in March owing to the ongoing pandemic, have not yet returned from their homeland. Even the school managements of budget schools are unsure of their availability on whether they will return or not once schools reopen, which has left them perplexed.

It is said that the teachers who were employed in the State hailed from Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal and other neighboring States. And, the managements said those teachers have not resigned nor were removed from schools. But, if they do not attend once schools resume, the schools will gear up for recruiting new teaching staff instead.

General secretary Yadagiri Shekhar Rao of Telangana Recognized School Managements Association (TRSMA) told The Hans India that conditions will be critical if teaching and non-teaching staff will not show up on July 1. "Barely six days are left to reopen schools. Every school has to recruit around 20-35 teaching and non-teaching staff, which will take 15-30 days to begin the recruitment process. We have approached Finance Minister Harish Rao and the State-level banking committee to provide us financial help and are expecting adequate amount of loan to recruit staff."

He added that the budget schools are expecting minimum of Rs 10 lakh to 15 lakh and are confident that the government will allocate over Rs 5,000 crore for budget schools across the State.

The Telangana Teachers Private Forum (TPTF) said that more than 1,000 budget schools were shut down due to which many teachers lost jobs. "Some budget schools have taken loans through on properties to run their schools. On the other hand, the schools are demanding the government to provide funds." said Lakshmi of TPTF women wing.

On the condition of anonymity, a private teacher who teaches in a budget school in Secunderabad, reasoned that schools are eager to reopen to generate fees from parents. However, the teaching and non-teaching staff was not being paid, apart from the financial aid from the government. Hence, many left for home and will likely not return because schools will not have a proper salary to provide them.