Hyderabad: Pregnant teacher not given leave, bleeds to her death

Kurnool: The death of a pregnant teacher Sudha Rani due to excessive bleeding at a workshop conducted by Sri Chaitanya School, has brought teachers’ associations together to fight for justice. Mr Ramaswamy,  husband of Sudha Rani, demanded an inquiry into the incident. The Private Teachers and Lecturers Union demanded Rs 25 lakh ex-gratia to the family. Sudha Rani is survived by her eight year old son and her husband.

Mr Ramaswamy allegedly made an attempt to commit suicide on Sunday, unable to cope with the loss of his wife.

Sudha Rani was working as a science teacher for classes 3 to 6 at Sri Chaitanya Techno School, branch-I at Anantapur. Her husband alleged that the school had imposed strict restrictions on the staff which included marking late attendance register even for small breaches and cutting their salaries.

He said that every working day was a nightmare and his wife always feared losing her job. She skipped breakfast almost routinely as she had to report at the school sharp by 7.30 am, he said. We have an eight year old son who did not receive much attention from his mother as the school forced her to be at work place all through the day, he alleged.

He said that Sudha Rani requested the principal to spare her from attending the workshop at Kurnool as she was not keeping good health.

But the principal forced her to travel to Kurnool, saying that if she did not go, her pay would not be revised.

Sudha Rani attended the workshop on May 6. But on May 8 evening at about 8.30 pm he received a call from the Kurnool workshop and the caller informed him that his wife was not in good health and asked him to rush to Kurnool.

“When asked whether I needed to carry any money, the management said that I did not need to do so as the hospital expenses would be borne by the management. At about 1 am on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday I reached the hospital and found that my wife had been placed on the ventilator,” Mr Ramaswamy said. Doctors declared her dead at 3 am.

Private Teachers and Lecturers Union president Chand Basha demanded that the Sri Chaitanya School management compensate the family of the deceased with an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh. He said workshops involving teachers should not be held during the summer vacation.