MCD refuses to deploy teachers as election officials and related jobs in Delhi

In a communication to the revenue department, MCD said deploying teachers as BLOs will result in lost studies and student suffering

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has requested that its teachers not be deployed as block-level officers (BLOs) in the annual exercise of preparing and revising electoral rolls, citing a teacher shortage and “learning gaps due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” officials aware of the matter said on Sunday.

Teachers from MCD-run schools on election duty in Delhi. (HT Archive)

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According to a senior education department official, many sub-divisional magistrates across the city are issuing orders to deploy many teachers for full-time BLO duty at a critical juncture in the academic session. “We have sent communications to the revenue department to grant an exemption to teachers to avoid a school crisis,” the official said.

In one such communication, which HT has obtained a copy of, MCD’s education department said that the civic body intends to hold its first term examinations in September and that deploying teachers as BLOs will result in lost studies and student suffering. “Currently, there are over 1,500 municipal schools with 800,000 students and 18,158 teachers. According to the pupil-teacher ratio, we face a shortage of teachers,” said the letter dated August 14.

A spokesperson for the Delhi government did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the education department, MCD runs primary schools where students require constant attention and monitoring. “Due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, many municipal students left the city and are now returning. So, the department is running a special programme to alleviate basic education standards of weak students, which requires more involvement of teachers,” the communique adds, requesting “not to deploy MCD teachers for BLO duty and cancel all orders issued in this regard.”

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Ramniwas Solanki, who heads the Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh, a teacher’s union, said that over 1,680 teachers had been sought as BLOs for the revision of electoral rolls and field surveys. “This has become an annual occurrence. Teachers are being used for non-educational purposes, while government schools already have a staff shortage. This policy must be changed, and education must be prioritised. If election duties are required yearly, separate staff should be hired,” he added.