  Support plays a vital role in the teaching profession. A good support system
can empower teachers to regulate their emotions and effectively manage stress
while working in isolation. The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a hybrid form
of education, necessitating the acquisition of new skills by teachers and
compelling them to adapt to remote teaching. This new development further
amplifies the sense of isolation prevalent amongst the teaching community.
Against this backdrop, our study investigates the availability of
sociotechnical support infrastructures for teachers in low-income schools while
also looking into the support practices embraced by this class of teachers
following the pandemic. Through 28 qualitative interviews involving teachers,
management and personnel from support organizations, we demonstrate how
teachers have largely taken the initiative to establish their own informal
support networks in the absence of formal support infrastructures. Smartphones
have significantly augmented these support practices, serving as both a
valuable source of support as well as a medium for facilitating support
practices. However, in comparison to other forms of support received from these
sources, the availability of emotion-focused support for teachers have proven
to be inadequate, creating imbalances in their support seeking practices. Our
paper provides different contextual ways to reduce these imbalances and improve
the occupational well-being of teachers.
