With the COVID-19-induced lockdown/curfew during the second wave relaxed further, allowing movement of public and operation of establishments for 12 hours as against the earlier six hours, many activities have resumed in the State.
However, the prevalence of the novel coronavirus is continuing even though the incidence of infections has come down when compared to the peak witnessed in May.
But, for those in the professions of private tuition teachers, fitness trainers, dance and music teachers and others that ideally require in-person interaction, things remain tough.
With schools still shut owing to the pandemic, the students taking tuitions and home tuitions are also fewer.
“I used to teach at least 10 schoolchildren a couple of years ago at my home. Since the pandemic struck, the tuitions were suspended and there seems no scope for any such activity in the near future. Even though I want to take online classes parents are already worried over the screen time spent by children for online classes by schools,” says R. Lakshmi, a teacher. “In a bid to overcome this, I am planning to start an online channel and upload lessons for everyone,” she adds.
For many private school teachers, private tuitions were an additional source of income and in the current scenario many of them are struggling to keep their jobs.
Similarly, dance and music schools and their training activities were also affected by the pandemic. Only a few teachers are able to conduct online classes.
On the other hand, fitness trainers and gymnasiums are among the worst hit due to the lockdown and the pandemic. Even though there is a 12-hour curfew relaxation gymnasiums have not been allowed to open yet.
“Maintenance of gyms has been a major issue for us as they remained shut for the past few months. We still have to pay the rents and other bills to keep our investment,” says Ch. Raju, fitness trainer and organiser of Golden Fitness gym.
“The plight of fitness trainers is unexplainable. Being professional trainers we cannot adapt to other jobs. Even we if want to, the situation is more or less same in most sectors. We can only recover from this crisis if the government, to start with, allows us to open at least in the morning for a limited time,” he says.
Free online classes
Meanwhile, the lockdown which forced many to sit at home also increased the availability of learning content for primary school to PG students on platforms like YouTube.
Several individuals and organisations have been uploading lessons of various classes on their channels which are free to access. The State government too has offered lessons through DD Saptagiri Youtube and satellite channels.
On the other hand, many fitness trainers have also taken to social media platforms like Instagram and Youtube where they give fitness tips for free and fitness training online for paid subscriptions.