Kozhikode: As soon as school ends, he rushes home, changes into jeans and a t-shirt, and heads out discreetly to a small roadside eatery—not to eat, but to help serve food and clean up. In this attire, he hopes no one will recognise the teacher within him. He works late into night, only to return to school the next morning as the beloved teacher his students adore.

This is the life of a teacher from an aided school in Kozhikode, who, for the past four years, has been working without a salary due to lack of official approval for his appointment.

For a while, he managed by working as a salesman in clothing stores at night. If he happened to run into someone he knew, he would quickly cover up, saying, “This is my friend’s shop; I just dropped by.” The hardest part, he says, is not just the financial struggle but the social alienation that comes with it.

“When teachers plan a trip together, I make excuses—perhaps a wedding to attend or a hospital visit with the children. If they decide to eat out, I feign a stomach ache and step away. What else can I do?” he asks with a sigh.

There are days when he doesn’t even have enough money for a bus ticket. At the Palayam bus stand, he waits, hoping for three others to share an auto-rickshaw to save costs.

“No money, no home, nothing! Sometimes, I feel I am on the verge of a breakdown. It is only the thought of my family that keeps me going.”

Tears of a teacher

For a woman, the struggle is even more heartbreaking. When her husband passed away, she was left with three young children and no means to survive. Out of compassion, the school management offered her a teaching position, but without official recognition, she has never received a salary.

“Now, I can barely afford to feed my children, let alone educate them. Since they are too young to be left alone, I cannot even take up another job on the days they have no school,” she says, her eyes welling up.

“Some of my fellow teachers manage by working night shifts. But for women, it is not so easy—to drive an auto at night, to stand behind a food stall... Every road seems closed. Right now, I survive on the small amount my colleagues collect for me every month.”

Their stories remain unheard, their struggles unseen. Yet, each morning, they step into the classroom with a smile, hiding their hardships behind lessons and laughter, shaping the future of the very society that has turned its back on them.

Meanwhile, the General Education Department reports that approximately 16,000 teaching positions across the state, from primary to higher secondary levels, remain unapproved. Teacher organisations highlight that within the higher secondary section alone, nearly 2,200 posts are yet to receive official recognition.