Dear Students, Wait: Your Teacher Is on Election Duty

Paper: GS – I, Subject: Society and Social Justice, Topic: Social Sector – Education, Issue: Teachers Beyond Education.

Context:

Government school teachers are routinely assigned non-teaching duties like election work as Booth Level Officers (BLOs), pulling them away from classrooms. This disrupts learning, increases teacher stress, and ultimately undermines the Right to Education.

Key Highlights:

Extra-Professional Duty as “Booth Level Officers” (BLOs):

• Teachers are often assigned duties as BLOs, which involve updating electoral rolls and preparing voter lists.
• This work is unrelated to teaching and places significant stress on teachers due to stringent deadlines and the need for accuracy.
• The stress can lead to health issues, and in some cases, even death among teachers.

Perception of Teaching as a Leisurely Job: There is a common misconception that teaching is an easy job, particularly for government school teachers.

• This perception leads to the unquestioned use of government school teachers for election duty and other non-teaching tasks.

Impact on Children in Government Schools:

• Children in government schools are disproportionately affected by teacher absenteeism due to election duty.
• School heads are often forced to relieve teachers for election duty, leaving students without regular instruction.
• This deprivation of regular classes is not considered a national concern, despite its negative impact on students’ learning.

 Right to Education (RTE) Act:

• The RTE Act initially raised hopes that non-teaching work would be outlawed for teachers.
  • However, Section 27 of the Act permits the use of teachers in election-related work.
  • A subsequent court verdict further expanded the scope of teachers’ deployment for election duties.

Erosion of Teaching as a Profession:

• The continued assignment of non-teaching duties to teachers has undermined the perception of teaching as a serious profession.
  • The RTE Act’s failure to fully address this issue has further eroded the status of teaching.

The RTE Act has failed to fully address this issue, and the continued assignment of non-teaching duties to teachers undermines the profession and perpetuates educational disparities.

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