Teachers back on Covid duty as cases spike

With Covid-19 cases spiking once again in the national capital, teachers of government and municipal schools are back on pandemic-related duty, causing several schools to raise concerns over the deployment of teachers for non-teaching work at a time when practical exams of board classes have begun and the evaluation process of the other classes is underway

With Covid-19 cases spiking once again in the national capital, teachers of government and municipal schools are back on pandemic-related duty, causing several schools to raise concerns over the deployment of teachers for non-teaching work at a time when practical exams of board classes have begun and the evaluation process of the other classes is underway.

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On Wednesday, Delhi reported 1,254 cases of Covid-19 — the highest single-day spike since December 18 last year.

In January, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had directed chief secretary Vijay Dev to issue an order to reduce the number of government schoolteachers deployed on Covid-19 duty to ensure that teachers are re-engaged in academic work, following which a large number of teachers was released from pandemic related work.

With cases increasing again, teachers, as well as other government employees, have been asked to undertake a door-to-door mobilisation for the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive. For instance, in Shahdara district, around 124 teachers have been asked to join the survey work on Sunday. Similarly, teachers from different districts have been assigned duties at the airport in the past few days.

For instance, as many as 100 teachers of the east municipal body-run schools were deployed at the Delhi airport on Covid duty last week.

The deployment has not gone down well with schools, however. A principal of a government school in old Delhi said their only physical education teacher has been called back on Covid-19 work on Tuesday. “We have our class 12 physical education practical exam on Friday. How will we do that without our internal examiner? Besides, at least seven teachers who were busy uploading internal marks of students on to the directorate of education (DoE)’s portal have been assigned survey work and duty at the airport,” the principal said, without wishing to be named.

Ajay Veer Singh, general secretary of government schoolteachers’ association, said, “The government should not allow the district administrations to deploy teachers on Covid-19 duty at such a crucial time -- the academic session is ending and students need teachers the most right now.”

The principal of another government school in Jhilmil Colony said their only IT professional had been deployed at the airport last week. “Our staff are completely dependent on the IT person for uploading student marks and preparing results. The government has already asked schools to declare results up to class 8 by March 31. How will we finish the work in such a situation?” the principal said, also on condition of anonymity.

Similar concerns were raised by heads of municipal schools. A principal of the East Delhi municipal body in Gandhi Nagar said, “The result of the classes where teachers are on duty is not prepared yet. Another teacher will have to finish the work of his/her class first and then complete the work of others. So, half the students will be getting their results soon while the other half will have to wait a while.”

A senior official at the Delhi government’s education department, requesting anonymity, said, “The government will ensure that teachers of important subjects and those teaching board classes are not deployed on Covid-19 duty.”

Similarly, officials of the east municipal corporation’s education department said that they will look into problems caused by the deployment in their schools.