SEREMBAN: This year’s Deepavali is extra special for 47-year-old widow Angelai Subramaniam and some 500 other pre-school teachers and their assistants as they have finally received their salaries which had not been paid since January.

       Angelai, who has two children, lost her lorry driver husband to a heart attack in January.

       She was a picture of joy after receiving what was due to her.

       “After my husband died, I thought I would be able to provide for my family but my salary was not banked in.

       “I am fortunate as I live with my mother-in-law and do not have to worry about having a roof over our heads,” she said, adding that her mother also lives with them.

       Angelai, who has been teaching for three years, received her pay cheque just a day before Deepavali after the government, through the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), provided a grant of RM6.4mil for these teachers and their assistants.

       “There would have been no celebration if the money hadn’t come in.

       “I am thankful to those who made it happen,” she said.

       Angelai and the other teachers and their assistants are from five non-governmental organisations who have been teaching some 6,000 children aged between four and six from mostly B40 families at 227 pre-schools in the peninsula.

       The five NGOs are Divine Life Society, Pertubuhan Guru Tadika Zon Utara Semenanjung Malaysia, Child Information, Learning and Development Centre, Pertubuhan Pusat Pembangunan Kanak-Kanak Cemerlang and Malaysia Hindu Sangam Yayasan Atmah.

       The programme, which began in 2007, was initially funded by a tycoon.

       In 2014, the government, through the Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community Unit (Sedic) in the Prime Minister’s Department, began financing it.

       Sedic is a government body created to assist the poor from the Indian community but in 2018 the unit was renamed Mitra and moved to the National Unity Ministry.

       Divine Life Society president Datuk R. Batumalai said National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique had contacted him and pledged to pay the teachers after the matter was highlighted in The Star on Oct 10.

       “Our gratitude also goes to MIC president Tan Sri S.A.Vigneswaran who had been following up on this and keeping us updated.

       “I see many happy faces now and I am glad they will all be able to celebrate Deepavali,” he said.

       T. Komathy, 35, who is married with four children and has been teaching for the past four years, was elated when she got news that her salary would be paid before Deepavali.

       “I also have to support my parents and two siblings who are still in school.

       “The past 10 months was a nightmare,” she said, adding that her lorry driver husband was the family’s sole breadwinner during that time.

       M. Sukuma, 44, who has been teaching since 2012, was also a picture of happiness when she got her wages from Batumalai.

       “Apart from being able to celebrate Deepavali, I will use the money to pay for my daughter’s fees as she will be going to college soon,” she said.

       Mother of five M. Goviri, 41, who has been the sole breadwinner of her family for the past two years described receiving the money as a godsend.

       “My husband has been unable to work following an accident and still has to undergo physiotheraphy.

       “If not for my father and a non-governmental organisation that has been providing us with rations, I don’t know how we would have been able to pull through till now,” she added.