With physical classroom in schools remaining out of bounds for students due to the prevailing coronavirus crisis, hundreds of mid-day meal workers and Vidya Volunteers continue to reel under ripple-effects.
More than 400 Vidya volunteers were appointed to handle classes in various State-run schools in an apparent move to overcome shortage of regular teachers in the previous academic year.
The well-qualified had volunteers offered their services till the last working day of the previous academic year on a monthly honorarium of ₹12,000.
The pandemic-induced closure of schools has triggered uncertainty over the continuation of their services in the new academic year, which began belatedly last month.
With the schools switching to the online teaching format, the hapless volunteers are now staring at an uncertain future.
“We are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis with alternative livelihood opportunities such as conducting private tuition classes being unavailable in the situation,” said an aggrieved volunteer of a Zilla Parishad School in Nelakondapalli mandal.
“Some of our colleagues are working on the farm to eke out a living and support their families,” the Vidya volunteer said.
"We appeal to the government to renew our tenure to enable us to supplement the online teaching initiatives and surmount our financial crisis," he said.
The mid-day meal workers and Vidya volunteers were among those hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, said TSUTF district president Nagamalleswara Rao. "They are in need of immediate succour to get through these hard times," he said.
“The tenure of the Vidya volunteers ended in March in the previous academic year (2019-2020) and we have not received any fresh circular about Vidya volunteers in the current academic year,” District Educational Officer Madanmohan said.
