Forced to sell bananas, jobless AP teacher gets succour from ex-students

Only a few weeks ago he was teaching Telugu at a leading corporate school in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore town, but today he is selling bananas to eke out a living.

For P Venkata Subbaiah, coronavirus-induced lockdown has changed his life for the worst.

The 43-year-old, who is a Bachelor in Education (B.Ed) and also holds two master's degrees in Public Administration and Telugu, lost his job as the school management had asked him to ensure admission of six to seven new students for the new academic year to get the salary and retain the job.

"In the current situation, it is not possible to get new admissions. Who will enroll their children now? They will not even allow me to enter their house because of the fear of coronavirus," said Subbaiah.

Wearing a face mask, he is seen pushing the cart through busy areas of the town to sell bananas. "I had no other option to support my family," said Subbaiah, who lives with his wife and two children, aged five and six years.

Despite the struggle, he is not able to earn even ₹ 200 a day. His monthly salary as teacher was ₹16,000 and he was spending half the amount to repay ₹ 3.5 lakh loan he had taken for his child's medical treatment.

With 15 years of experience as a teacher, he had never thought life would suddenly take a bitter turn. He is a diabetic and also suffering from kidney- related ailment.

Moved by his plight, some of his former students started raising funds to help him. They have raised about ₹87,000.

Thanking the former students for their gesture, Subbaiah said he started selling bananas to tide over the current crisis, but would go back to the profession he loves the most.