K R Usha Kumari

K R Usha Kumari (born 1968) is an Indian teacher from Kerala who taught in Multi Grade Learning Centres (MGLC) in the tribal areas. She won many state and national awards for her service as a teacher.[1]

Usha lives in Amboori, a panchayath in Kattakkada Taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala. She had joined the Agasthya Multi Grade Learning Centre as teacher in 1999 and has taught the children of the Kunnathumala tribal colony for over 20 years.[2] She was the sole teacher of the school and travelled 8 km by foot everyday.[3] She is one of the 344 teachers who lost their jobs after these centres were closed down by the government on 31 March 2022.

MGLCs were set up under the District Primary Education Programme in 1992 with an aim to educate children in remote areas. It was later taken over by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (now under the Education Department) and the qualification of the teachers was raised from SSLC to TTC.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Award-winning Kerala teacher now a sweeper in school". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  2. ^ "Teacher, who treks 8km to school, on a hunger strike | Thiruvananthapuram News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  3. ^ "We encounter tigers on our daily trek to school through the forest, but our little students' welcoming smiles make it all worth it". The Times of India. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
  4. ^ "National Award-Winning Teacher Forced To Work as Sweeper in Kerala School". News18. 2022-06-06. Retrieved 2022-06-28.


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