Teacher, who treks 8km to school, on a hunger strike

Thiruvananthapuram: K R Ushakumari, the only teacher at the tribal school at Kunnathumala in Amboori, who had won several accolades, including national honours, is in news again.
Ushakumari has been on a hunger strike at the school for the last three days, demanding job security and clearance of salary arrears.
“People know about my 8-km daily trek to school through dense forest. But, they don’t see my struggle after school to make both ends meet,” said Ushakumari.
Announcing her protest in a detailed Facebook post with a picture of a shelf full of awards she had received, the teacher shared her ordeal. “The awards are all laughing at me. I cannot appear for any PSC examination because of the age limit fixed for such exams. Will I get a permanent appointment? There is no answer to the question,” she said.
Ushakumari joined the Agasthya Multi Grade Learning Centre in Amboori panchayat as teacher in 1999, which is around 8km away from her home. Later, the centre was taken over by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. Later, the qualification of the teachers was raised from SSLC to TTC.
“I have passed SSLC. I am now 52 years old and cannot go for another job. Many teachers across the state, who work in such schools, are above 55 years of age. We informed the government that we were are ready to complete the TTC course, if we get an official order in this regard. The assurance from government that our demand for permanent posting will be considered was never put in a written document. Believing in the false claims we all continued our work. But nothing happened. I have given 20 years of my life for this job. Don’t we deserve a happy retirement life. One can see the results of our efforts at the school and kids from tribal settlements,” said Ushakumari.
Mentioning about the delay in payment of salaries, Ushakumari said, “For the past five months, none of the teachers in the single-teacher schools received salary”.
“Recently, I along with other teachers approached the authorities concerned to check the reason for the delay in payment of our salaries. And we did not get a clear answer. It is then that I decided to conduct a hunger strike till I get a written assurance from the government regarding our appointment,” she added.
Officials of the education department said that file regarding disbursal of salary for the teachers will be cleared by the finance department in the first week of March itself.