COVID-19 has claimed hundreds of teachers. These are their stories.

NEW DELHI: A maverick who taught at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi; an astrophysicist who drew hundreds of youths to astronomy; a linguistics teacher who got others interested in languages; a law professor who, soon after a major surgery, set up a hospital bed in his office to evaluate students, hundreds of school teachers across the country - the devastating second wave of coronavirus has claimed them all.

The sharp rise in COVID-19 cases over April and May saw hundreds of school, college and university teachers and educators die. Hundreds of school teachers have died of COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, many after contracting the infection while serving as polling staff in local elections.

Central universities including Aligarh Muslim University, Delhi University , Jamia Millia Islamia University and Central University of Rajasthan, have lost teachers. The Delhi High Court ordered Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU ) to set up a COVID-care centre on campus; and IIT Gandhinagar put out a whitepaper on setting up such centres. University Vice-Chancellors, directors and deans have succumbed. Now, education systems and states are bracing for a third wave of coronavirus.

Careers360 is telling the stories of some of the teachers lost to the pandemic and the communities they have left behind.

Part 13 | KC Iyer had studied at three IITs before teaching at IIT Delhi. He was dean infrastructure in a rapidly expanding, world-class institution | IIT Delhi dean infrastructure KC Iyer dies of COVID-19

Part 12 | Jetangi Somaiah strengthened the mid-day meal service at the zila parishad high school in Warangal, Telangana | Coronavirus: Telangana teachers fight for colleagues lost to COVID-19

Part 11 | Debapratim Purkayastha was an award-winning case-study researchers and writer | ‘A true explorer’: COVID-19 claims ICFAI’s Debapratim Purkayastha

Part 10 | Aditya Shastri led a pioneering women-only university in rural Rajasthan | COVID-19: Banasthali Vidyapith VC Aditya Shastri dies at 58

Part 9 | Extraordinarily resilient, an innovative teacher, and always ready with a smile – that’s how students and colleagues remember Anant Deogaonkar who died of COVID-19 on May 19. | ‘He was a fighter’: GNLU teacher Anant Deogaonkar dies of COVID-19

Part 8 | Dinesh Mohan who taught at IIT Delhi, loved to provoke you into thinking about questions on technology and society from perspectives you had not considered | A padayatri who was not pedestrian: Remembering Dinesh Mohan

Part 7 | A devout teacher, Hemanga Dutta went out of his way to help his students and inspired many to take linguistics as a subject | ‘Devastating loss’: COVID-19 claims CURAJ’s head of linguistics

Part 6 | Colleagues described Pathak, who was 48-year-old, as a “thorough gentleman”, a hardworking and sincere colleague and a popular teacher | ‘A thorough gentleman’: COVID-19 claims DU’s African studies teacher

Part 5 | N Rathnasree, director of Delhi's Nehru Planetarium for over two decades was also instrumental in preserving the Jantar Mantar observatories. | COVID-19: Nehru Planetarium director N Rathnasree no more

Part 4 | AMU lost one of its youngest teachers. He was popular among students, loved the West Indian cricket team and was writing a book | ‘Yusuf never hurt anyone’: AMU English teacher dies from COVID-19

Part 3 | This school principal contributed to the construction of his school’s building from his own pocket | Uttar Pradesh: More teachers fear COVID-19 infection after counting

Part 2 | Delhi's Najafgarh zone lost six teachers. One gave away shoes to children, another helped them make clever science projects; another surveyed out-of-school children and got them enrolled | ‘We are reeling’: One Delhi zone lost 3 teachers to COVID-19 in a week

Part 1 | As per some estimates, around 700 teachers deployed to serve as polling staff for the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections have passed away. One of them made sure his school had a building and its yard, lots of trees | UP Panchayat Elections 2021: Teachers’ unions left counting the dead

Write to us at news@careers360.com .