Ludhiana: Now, govt teachers assigned voter registration responsibility

This dual role is significantly impacting their primary duty of teaching, compelling them to leave school premises an hour early, especially when assigned locations situated in far-off villages

: Despite assurances from the state government to alleviate government school teachers from non-teaching duties, the tutors, who are already burdened with responsibilities as booth level officers, are now being given an additional charge of voter registration for the elections of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) next year.

The additional SGPC duties have disrupted the work-life balance of these teachers. (HT File)

This dual role is significantly impacting their primary duty of teaching, compelling them to leave school premises an hour early, especially when assigned locations situated in far-off villages. Starting from October 21, these registrations, initially meant to conclude by November 15, have now been extended until February 29, 2024.

Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, vice president of the Government School Teachers’ Union, said, “Such duties undeniably disrupt the educational process, particularly in understaffed schools where a mere three to five teachers manage the entire institution. However, carrying out election work without the assistance of government employees is also impractical. To find a middle ground, the government should strive to distribute these responsibilities more equitably across all departments, rather than relying solely on teachers.”

A primary school teacher serving as a BLO, on the condition of anonymity, said, “I teach in a government school in Jhamat village and have been assigned duty in Lohara village, which is 20 kilometres away from my school and 25 kilometers away from my residence. The commute takes about 40-45 minutes from point A to B. As the duty begins at 3 pm to 5 pm, and school ends at 3 pm, we have been allowed to leave school an hour early to reach the duty station by 3 pm, sometimes even earlier. This, combined with upcoming MC elections and delimitation revisions in Ludhiana, has adversely impacted our teaching duties.”

Expecting relief from non-teaching duties as promised by the government, teachers are now grappling with additional charges.

Another primary teacher, heading a government school with over 250 students and only four teachers, expressed frustration, stating, “The current government, claiming to revamp the education system in Punjab, contradicts the reality check. Out of the four staff members, I have been assigned BLO duty, leaving the school with only three teachers. The government itself issued an order a year ago that teachers will not be assigned non-teaching duties within teaching hours, and a year later, they are going back on their words.”

Female teachers serving as BLOs shared their ordeal, stating, “First MC elections, then SGPC, and then general elections in 2024. The coming year, we would be out of the school, constantly balancing teaching and election duties throughout. We have to go door-to-door for verification and collect forms, tasks that could have been handled by the local gurdwara pradhan or even online. The SGPC duties offer no monetary compensation or off-hours against the two-hour duty on weekdays and six-hour duty on weekends.”

Deputy commissioner-cum-district election officer Ludhiana, Surabhi Maik, shared, “We are making efforts to optimise the available human resources. In rural areas, we are working towards assigning these duties to patwaris instead of teachers. By involving more patwaris in performing these election duties, teachers engaged in these tasks will be relieved of this additional burden.”