Bending under pressure: When a mathematics teacher has to take Yoga classes

Note to readers: This is the second part of a three-part series on schools reopening in India amid the Coronavirus outbreak. The first part looked at why parents are concerned about sending their children back to physical classes. Tomorrow, the final part will look at the additional costs being incurred by schools for infection control. 

Mitali Satpathy, 36, who teaches English at a school in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, has been working double shifts ever since it reopened in November amid the Coronavirus outbreak. She teaches from 9 am to 2 pm, then goes back home to give online lessons. Satpathy spends almost nine hours teaching but hasn’t been given any additional compensation.

“Several parents refused to consent to their child attending physical classes. This has led to extra work for teachers like me. I am not even being paid overtime despite incurring additional expenses for the internet and web camera,” she said.

Satpathy is among the many teachers across India’s 2 million schools working double shifts during this time. Teacher shortage — there are 8.5 million in India — has always been an issue, with an estimated 0.5 million teacher roles to be filled across the country. The student-teacher ratio in India is estimated to be 36:1 (it is 16:1 in the United States).

The Covid outbreak has only worsened the situation with several teachers and administrative staff going back to their hometowns and villages because of the virus. Consequently, some teachers told Moneycontrol the student-teacher ratio has risen to 60:1 in some cases as absenteeism is high.

What are the concerns of teachers?

While school students have been studying from the comfort of their home via online classes, teachers, across States, have been ordered to come back to school.

It is estimated that about 1 percent of the 8.5 million school teachers went back to their hometowns and villages during the Covid-induced lockdown in April and May. Only 50-60 percent returned and so the burden of filling in for them falls on other teachers.

Preeti Saxena, 33, who teaches Mathematics at a school in Ludhiana, said that her school is making her fill in for the Physics and Yoga teachers. “The class is usually 60-65 percent empty since several children are studying from home. Since I have a double Masters in Maths and Physics, the school is making me teach both subjects. I am still being paid the same monthly salary of Rs 42,000. How is this fair,” she questioned.

Saxena also complained that after a long day at school, she has to come back early to take Yoga classes the next morning. Her school has eight teacher positions vacant and with the pandemic the number has risen to 10 vacancies. Saxena did not name her school for fear of repercussions.

Schools reopening also means that additional efforts have to be taken for cleaning and sanitation of the classroom at all times. While schools were advised by the education ministry to deploy additional administrative staff on a temporary basis, corners seem to have been cut to save costs.

A case in point is 27-year-old Blessie Sniatlang, a History teacher at a school in Tura, Meghalaya. She told Moneycontrol over the phone that her school makes teachers monitor students, including wearing of masks and hand washing, instead of appointing administrative staff.

“Is it my responsibility to check whether the sanitiser or mask stocks of the school have been replenished? Out of the five janitors we had, only two have returned, so there is a shortage on that front as well. In my meagre salary of Rs 24,000, how many additional responsibilities can I take up,” she said.

 Are there concerns around hygiene in school?

Blessie added that she is personally concerned about the poor hygiene maintained in the school. She explained that the store rooms and staff rooms are not sanitised every day with proper chemicals and hence there are health risks for teachers as well.

Even during the peak of the lockdown in April, when all children had to stay home, teachers such as Blessie and Saxena had to go to their schools to correct exam papers, despite the health risks involved.

“Papers could easily have been corrected at home. Why were teachers like me made to come back to school? There was not a single cleaning staffer in school at that time nor were there hand-washes/sanitisers available. It clearly shows that the management has no regard for our health and this attitude continues even now,” said Preeti Saxena.

As reported by Moneycontrol earlier, insurance covers are slowly getting popular among school teachers, who are now nudging their managements to buy group health covers due to Covid-19.

Some teachers told Moneycontrol the student to teacher ratio has risen to 60:1 in some cases as absenteeism is high.

Santosh Jha, 42, who teaches Hindi at KSR Public School in Giridih, Jharkhand, told Moneycontrol that while his school informed them about group health covers, teachers were asked to pay part of the cost (premium).

“If I have to pay for an insurance policy from my own pocket, I may as well buy my own health cover,” he said. Jha, who lost his uncle and cousin to Covid-19, said that he was initially reluctant to return to school.

But, he was not given any other option since parents of Class X and XII students insisted that he be present to clear students’ doubts.

“I am not very comfortable with online classes but I managed to learn the basics from my son during the lockdown. Parents insist that I come to school and teach but it is easy for them to say that. They’ll leave after clearing doubts in 30-45 minutes. I will have to stay back in school the whole day,” he added.

Moneycontrol spoke to the school’s trustee Ramjee Goswami, who said that it wouldn’t be able to pay the entire insurance cost considering this has been a tough year financially.

“We are also incurring costs of getting masks, cleaning staff. Teachers cannot expect the school to now pay the entire health premiums too. We are offering a facility at discounted rates for their benefit,” he added.

In Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor district, a government schoolteacher’s death due to Covid shocked teachers in the area.

Premala Narayana, a teacher in the same region, said that three of her relatives (also teachers) had contracted Covid-19 since schools reopened in November.

“Who is at fault here? We teachers are not financially stable to sit back at home without a job. Shouldn’t these schools be sued for not maintaining basic hygiene,” she questioned.

In Andhra Pradesh, 575 students and 829 teachers contracted Covid within two weeks of schools reopening in November 2020. The state government said that these numbers 'were not alarming'.

 The pain of inadequate pay

Despite working for significantly longer hours, none of the teachers whom Moneycontrol spoke to was given additional allowances or perks for coming back to school.

Even overtime benefits have not been paid and schools have informed the teachers, depending on the situation, that some “remuneration” would be paid out in 2021.

“It just looks like our efforts are not considered significant by the schools. We have to maintain hygiene standards in classrooms, ensure students wear masks, don’t exchange food/stationery. Then we are to go back home and take 3-4 hours online lessons for students who study from home. After all this, there is not a penny of additional pay and only false promises of rewards next year,” said Satpathy.

For teachers, the pain is far from over, worrying over how the academic syllabus will be covered fully ahead of the 2021 board examinations, while fear of the virus plays on their minds all day long. Teachers like Preeti Saxena, Santosh Jha, Mitali Sathpathy and Blessie Sniatlang firmly believe that their schools will not come to their rescue if they contract Covid-19. And the schools have done nothing to disabuse them of that notion.