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Contract Teacher From Delhi is Selling Pakoras to Survive
Abdul Qadir had to leave Delhi, where he was teaching, and go back to Bihar. He is now selling snack to survive
‘Contract Teachers’ are educators who work on a contract for a certain period to teach at a particular institution (mostly government and corporation schools) and have to get their agreement renewed to be able to keep teaching.
One such educator is Abdul Qadir who was a teacher at a primary school under South Delhi Municipal Corporation. He earned Rs 40,000/- a month until the pandemic forced him to become unemployed. Qadir had to resort to going back to his home state, Bihar, and sell pakora and jalebi to survive as his teaching contract could not get renewed during the global lockdown.
Qadir is 40+ in age, has a wife, and two children of age 8 and 1. He is afflicted with locomotor disability.
Sadly, he is not the only one who’s out of a job because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Over 3000 contract teachers who were supposed to get their contracts renewed by 1 July 2020 are suffering, too.
Qadir told TOI, “Right now we are only getting assurance that they will look into it,” when he was asked about the authorities working towards the issue. According to him, several contract teachers have met Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and civic officials to find some kind of solution, but nothing has been done till now.
He is worried that he might not be able to afford his daughter’s private school fees in Delhi anymore since he cannot even take tuitions due to the social distancing norms. There is also no option to look for another job as he can no longer sit for any competitive exam due to the age factor.
This is extremely unfortunate how a man who was once a teacher with a degree from Jamia Milia Islamia is now jobless and out of options.