Thane teacher dies of Covid-19, relative alleges school forced her to report to work despite she being unwell

A 46-year-old teacher from a private school in Naupada, Thane, died of Covid-19 on Tuesday morning. Her family has alleged that her health deteriorated because the

A 46-year-old teacher from a private school in Naupada, Thane, died of Covid-19 on Tuesday morning. Her family has alleged that her health deteriorated because the authorities of the school where she was employed forced her to report to work despite the woman being unwell.

HT Image

In August, the teacher was tested positive for the virus. After she recovered, the school principal insisted her to report to work, owing to which she fell ill again in September and died of Covid-19 said her relative.

“She is survived by her husband and three children – the youngest being a 15-year- old. Her husband conducts private tuitions, which is not running well since the lockdown was imposed. For the family, she was the sole earning member. Due to the insistence of the school to report to duty, she could not recover completely. She was also on Covid-19 survey duty for three months and had hardly received any rest or care,” said the relative.

Despite various attempts, the school principal was not available for comment. However, one of the teachers from the school said, “As soon as the authorities came to know that she was tested positive, they put up a notice that the school will remain shut for 10 days. As per the announcement, we have to report to work from October 12. But there is no pending work in school and we can conduct online classes from home.”

“Despite the work-from-home guidelines, the teachers, who had completed the Covid-19 survey duty, was forced to go to school regularly. Even if they did not have any official work, the teachers had to be present in schools for conducting online classes. These teachers would make travel by public transport to reach their respective schools, posing a health risk for the entire staff. Hence, we demand a case of culpable homicide against the school,” said Sudhir Ghagas, secretary of the organisation.