Karnataka: Braving coronavirus fears, transport woes, government teachers report back to work

BENGALURU/MANGALURU: When Noor Aisha, headmistress of Government Lower Primary School, Jayanthinagar, Bengaluru, walked into the school compound on Monday — the first time since the lockdown was enforced — she was greeted by a surreal silence. She sorely missed the chaos and cacophony of her 78 students.
“School is never the same without students,” Aisha said, sitting in her staffroom with two colleagues.
Government school teachers reported back to work on Monday despite transportation hurdles and fear of the virus. In most schools, only the office or staffroom was opened after being sanitised. Since non-teaching staff are yet to return, teachers themselves had to clean the premises.
However, for most teachers across the state, the bigger issue was getting to work since public transport is limited. Three women teachers including the headmistress of Government Higher Primary School, Punchappady, Puttur taluk, 80km from Mangaluru, came to work, but not without difficulty. One teacher stays in neighbouring Kasargod district in Kerala and had a hard time getting a permit.
“Autos that used to charge Rs 250 from Puttur to our school are now charging double the amount. Another teacher who lives in Mangaluru decided to ride her two-wheeler,” Rashmitha Jain, headmistress in-charge said.
In rural pockets of Kolar district, teachers walked to school, while in Mysuru some were lucky enough to get a KSRTC bus arranged for them. Many were unhappy about reporting back to work without students.
“Sitting in school from 10am to 5pm doing nothing is horrible and pointless. We will lose our mental balance in a week’s time,” said a teacher in a school in Hubballi.
Most teachers stuck to administrative work such as writing names of students in a new register. Schools are also arranging for a parent-teacher meeting on June 10-12 to seek their opinion on reopening.
Although admissions are open, the process is yet to gather pace. “We expect admissions to increase as many parents will not be able to send children to private schools. But they are likely to wait till August,” said Nazima Banu, headmistress in-charge of Government Higher Primary School, Kalkere, Bengaluru.
MK Rajeshwari, Cluster Resource Person in Mulbagal taluk, Kolar conducted a parents meeting at two schools in Mudiyanoor. She said most parents are unwilling to send children back to school anytime soon.
In Mysuru, some teachers visited the homes of their SSLC students to check whether they are studying. Teachers will also have to start campaigns to get out-of-school children back to school by June 15.
(With inputs from Hubballi, Kolar and Mysuru)