Belagavi Teacher Dies After SIR Work Pressure, Family Alleges
A Belagavi teacher died after allegedly struggling with SIR work pressure, prompting his family to question if overwork caused his death.
AC Team
A quiet town in Karnataka is mourning the loss of a teacher who, according to his family, worked himself to exhaustion. Prakash Kamble, a government school teacher from Athani in Belagavi district, passed away recently. His family says the pressure of completing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) work pushed him past his limit.
Who Was Prakash Kamble?
Prakash lived in Athani town and taught at a government school in Padadale plantation, located in Nilaji village of Raibag taluk. Like thousands of teachers across Karnataka, he had been given extra duties under the SIR drive, a task that adds to the already heavy workload teachers carry.
His family says he would come home every evening and immediately talk about pending work. He often repeated the same worry: there was too much left to do, and he needed to finish it fast. This was not a one-off comment. It became part of his daily routine in the weeks before his death.
What Is SIR and Why Does It Matter?
SIR stands for Special Intensive Revision. It is a government exercise that often involves verifying and updating records, and teachers are frequently roped in to help with this work alongside their regular teaching duties. While the task itself may sound routine on paper, it adds hours of extra fieldwork and paperwork to a teacher's already packed schedule.
For many teachers, this means late nights, early mornings, and barely any time to rest. Prakash's case has brought this issue into sharp focus, raising questions about how much extra work teachers can reasonably be expected to handle.
The Family's Grief and Their Claims
Prakash's wife, Mala, has been vocal about what she believes caused her husband's death. She says the work pressure was the real reason behind it, not just a medical condition. She recalls how anxious he was every single day, worried about deadlines and pending tasks connected to the SIR work.
Doctors have pointed to low blood pressure as the immediate medical cause of death. But for Mala and the rest of the family, this explanation does not tell the whole story. They believe the stress built up over days, wearing him down both mentally and physically, until his body simply gave up.
When news of his death reached their home in Athani, the grief was immediate and overwhelming. Neighbours and relatives gathered as the family struggled to come to terms with the sudden loss.
A Bigger Question for Teachers Everywhere
Prakash's death is not just a personal tragedy. It raises a larger question about how much extra responsibility teachers can carry before it starts to affect their health. Teaching is already a demanding job. Add administrative work like SIR duties, and the pressure multiplies quickly.
Many teachers across Karnataka have quietly complained about similar stress, though few cases make it to the news. Prakash's story might be the one that finally gets people talking about the real cost of overloading teachers with extra work.
His family hopes that this tragedy will not be forgotten and that authorities will take a closer look at the workload teachers are asked to manage. For now, though, they are left grieving a husband, a father, and a teacher who spent his last days worried about work he could never quite finish.
