Siddipet: Selfless government school teacher continues to teach for free after retirement

After serving in government schools for 35 years, Bal Reddy who retired in 2004, continues to teach in govt schools for free

Siddipet: A retired teacher, who once found it difficult to pay his Class 10 board examination and term fee due to poverty, overcame all challenges and became a teacher in 1970. After serving in government schools for 35 years, he retired in 2004. However, he has continued teaching in government schools for the last 12 years, that too without accepting anything in return.

Meet 79-year-old Bal Reddy, who underwent a heart surgery 10 years ago, but got back to teaching after taking just a month’s break. Bal Reddy had taken just a day’s break after his retirement. However, he found it difficult to stay at home, after which he decided to teach in a private school for a while.

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However, the teacher found it difficult to continue teaching in the private school when he started teaching in Dacharam, Kyasaram, Pragnapur, and Timmakkapally government primary schools.

One of his colleagues, Sathaiah, who was working in a primary school at Tigul in Jagadevpur mandal, Bal Reddy’s native village, approached him to teach in the school. He has been teaching at Tigul since 2017 where Bal Reddy completed his school education in the 1950s.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Bal Reddy said he would continue to teach until his last breath. Hailing Bal Reddy as a selfless man, headmaster Sathaiah said Bal Reddy would focus only on students who were backward in their studies.

He said the students improved in a great way after Bal Reddy’s classes. Reddy travels on Sathaiah’s bike from Gajwel town to Tigul, located 12 km away, every day. Reddy recalled how he, his mother, and his sister worked as labourers in the 1960s to pay a term fee of Rs 7.50 paise twice a year apart from paying the board examination fee.

He made his only son a teacher and his younger brother a hostel warden. Reddy, who got Rs 150 as his first salary, had Rs 15,000 as salary when he retired. However, he was drawing Rs 70,000 as pension now, which he says was more than enough to lead a decent life.