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Unpaid for months, Punjab Teachers Compelled to work as Manual Labourers
Unpaid for over 6 months, Punjab teachers are compelled to work as farm hands and construction workers.
Earning meagre salaries of between Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,500, professionally qualified teachers with masters degrees have been forced to work as manual labourers to make ends meet in several Punjab provinces as they haven't been paid for the past six months.
Without money in their pocket, the teachers have to keep attending work in the hope of getting their salaries. And as the summer holidays set in, these teachers have to turn towards working as construction workers and farm hands in order to make ends meet.
Among many teachers subjected to this adversity, Kulwant Rai, hasn't been paid for the past 6 months; a M Sc degree holder, who has also completed his B.Ed and holds an IT degree, Rai works with a local government primary school in Shekhupur village in Phillaur. He has been tilling land owned by a local landlord for Rs 250 a day. Prior to which, Rai had worked as a construction labourer for Rs 250-Rs 300 a day.
Rai, with a family of five, is the sole breadwinner of the menage. Rai reported "I joined the education department as education provider nine years ago with BA B.Ed qualification and later did MA Economics and M.Sc, while working. I had hoped to up my qualification and get better paying job but here I am, tilling others’ land. There are matric-pass JBT teachers who are serving as BPEOs in the department. But qualified teachers like us are forced to do menial jobs to take care of families.”
Looking at the condition of teachers like Rai, we're impelled to feel for the plight of the teachers.
Image courtesy: sowetourban