At least 130 teachers in the state have died due to COVID-19, statistics from the Department of Primary and Secondary Education reveal.
In the Bengaluru and Mysuru division, for which the department revealed the statistics, the highest number of deaths were reported from Mandya (24), followed by Mysuru (13), Tumakuru (10) and Chitradurga (10). Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar on Thursday briefed media persons about the process of compassionate appointments that had been initiated for the family of the 130 teachers who died. He said that the appointment letters were given to the next of kin.
Compassionate appointment letters will also be given to family members of other government employees from the department, if the latter died while still in service. And the next of kin will be placed in Group D or First Division Assistant (FDA) and Second Division Assistant (SDA) roles in the department, he added. These figures of 130 deceased teachers are just from the Bengaluru and Mysuru divisions alone (sans Gulbarga and Dharwad divisions), an official from the department said.
Those teachers who died of COVID-19 are eligible for an insurance cover of about Rs 30 lakhs each, a department official said. The Commissioner of Public Instruction had recently prodded the Deputy Commissioners of various districts in the state to ensure that the family of the deceased teachers are given compensation.
Kumar said that students are yet to come out of the irreversible loss they have faced with the passing away of their teachers. He assured that the department has taken this step of compassionate recruitment, as a response for the loss the family has borne. Among the educational districts that had least government teacher deaths were Udupi (1), Dakshina Kannada (2), Bengaluru North (2), Bengaluru South (2), Bengaluru Rural (2).
