My father served in World War II but came back in 1942, before it ended. So he was denied veteran benefits. After he came back, he worked as a driver, first for a car then for a bus and then a transport truck. Throughout my education, I enjoyed all my subjects except English. Studying was hard back then, though. There was no electricity in our house, and seven of us siblings could not sit under one chimney lamp. I would usually go sit under a street light and study, or when the weather was bad, I would turn to a neighbour’s house.
After college, I worked as a supervisor at a plywood factory for two years, before getting admission in the teaching training university. In those days, no one thought highly of teachers. Only students who were dull in the classroom became teachers, but I knew that was what I wanted to do. After my training, I worked in a night college for some time, teaching farmers and coolies and others like that.
In October 1980, I joined a government-aided school in Amtoor on a temporary basis for six months. Six months later, I had no indication that my posting would become permanent so decided to look for other jobs. But they didn’t want me to leave, so I agreed to stay on for another three months on half my salary. The three months after that, I stayed on for free. Finally, on October 24th 1981, my posting became permanent.
I teach Kannada, Social Science, Mathematics and Environmental Studies from grades 3 to 7. Sometimes I teach sports too. We have seen many students come and go, but it is really a struggle at the school. In 1996, the government stopped appointing teachers to aided schools. We had to seek them out ourselves and pay them. Where would we get the funds from? Today, we are four teachers appointed by the government and four who aren’t. Those of us who get government salaries pool together money and pay the others.
We don’t know how else to do it. Now there are 100 kids in the school. We give them uniforms and books and food. We even pay for their exams. Their parents come from poor backgrounds. One of the biggest problems we face is transportation. Our school is not too accessible and some of the students need to travel over 10 kilometres to reach here. They cannot afford to pay Rs. 100 per day for autos and jeeps and we are scared that will stop them from sending their kids to school. So for the last 10 years, we have been renting out Mahindra Maxx and an old tempo to pick the children up. It is about Rs. 1800 per day, but we only ask the parents for Rs. 300-400 per month. For the rest, we manage amongst ourselves, which is made up of the money we give from our salaries. To keep the school alive, to educate the children, to achieve our dreams, this is what we must do. We have asked the local community for donations, but they do not seem to come forward. The government is forcing us to shut down, but if we do, these poor children will not get an education.
I have taught here for nearly 38 years. I retired on August 31st 2018. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I am proud that I have been able to contribute in a small way to the education of so many children and on the other there is a fear. Once all four of us retire, how will the school run?
