Andhra Pradesh: Laid off, teacher sells bananas to make ends meet

NELLORE: At Vedaayapalem and other busy areas in Nellore town, Pattem Venkata Subbaiah ekes out a livelihood by selling bananas on a push cart. Till recently, the 43-year-old was a teacher of Telugu and Sanskrit at a corporate school.
Speaking to STOI, Subbaiah said he was forced to carry out a petty trade to meet his family’s needs. Once the lockdown was imposed, the management of the corporate school where he was employed paid him 50 per cent of his salary till April and told him to bring in at least six to seven candidates for admission for the next academic year in order to be paid his salary for the next month and to continue in the same post after the lockdown.
“Last year I was able to get the new admissions for my school apart from being employed in my regular service as a teacher, but this time I failed due to Covid-19 fear as nobody would allow me into their homes. The management then told me to discontinue my service from May. Having no other option, I started selling the bananas from May 20,” the former teacher said.
Subbaiah, who lives with his wife and their two children, said he had 15 years of experience as a teacher and two postgraduate degrees.
“I got a monthly salary of Rs 16,080 as a schoolteacher till recently. But now I am not able to earn even Rs 200 per day by selling bananas. Life has become bitter. I am ready to serve in any government work on a contract basis,” Subbaiah said, adding that he had borrowed Rs 3.5 lakh from a private financier for his son’s medical treatment.The loan requires him to pay a monthly interest of nearly Rs 8,000.
When contacted, Nellore district educational officer M Janardhanacharyulu said “The issue has been brought to our notice. We will conduct a detailed inquiry into it. We have also instructed managements of private schools to pay salaries to staff without fail for the duration of the lockdown.”