Education takes a back seat as Maharashtra teachers juggle SIR, census duties

Highlighting the loss of over 40 academic hours between July and August this year, teachers have cited students’ weak performance as an inevitable consequence.

Teachers across the state are upset about the growing number of non-academic duties assigned to them, saying that their increasing workload is affecting classroom teaching and students’ academic performance. Having already spent almost six months on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) duties, they will now be deployed for census work, further eating into their teaching time.

The SIR-related work affected teaching, with many schools forced to function for only half a day. (ANI/Representational)

The SIR-related work affected teaching, with many schools forced to function for only half a day. The extension of the SIR deadline until November 25 has further added to their workload. Teachers said the work also affected their summer vacations and delayed regular classroom activities, unit tests and periodic assessments.

Highlighting the loss of over 40 academic hours between July and August this year, they have cited students’ weak performance as an inevitable consequence.

Vijay Kombe, state president of the Maharashtra State Primary Teachers Committee, pointed out that the state education department had yet to conduct the periodic assessment tests (PATs), which are generally held in August or September. “Due to all the non-academic activities handed out to teachers, this examination too was postponed,” he said. PAT was introduced three years ago to assess students’ progress, identify learning gaps and help teachers prepare lesson plans to improve the performance of those who were falling behind. Around 15 million students across Maharashtra appear for these annual assessments.

Kombe said the situation was likely to worsen as the second phase of the census approached. Enumerators and supervisors will be trained for this between December 21 and January 10, with each teacher required to attend three to four days of training. The actual population count will be conducted from January 25 to February 28, followed by the counting of homeless people on the night of February 28 and a revision exercise between March 1 to 5.

“Students have already lost valuable teaching time during the first term because of SIR duties,” he said. “Now census training and actual census work will take away more days from the second term. When will teachers get time to complete the syllabus?”

Kombe said the academic calendar was already askew due to several government duties, training programmes and workshops assigned to teachers such as government audits, review meetings, NGO-led training programmes, distribution of deworming tablets, tobacco-free school campaigns and mandatory online work and training sessions. “Schools normally complete the first term before Diwali and begin the second term after the holidays,” he said. “However, this year, the schedule has gone awry because of census training and fieldwork: PATs, sports competitions, science exhibitions and other activities have all suffered.”

Other teachers’ organisations have also expressed concern about the impact of election-related duties on students. Tanaji Kamble, president of the Progressive Teachers Association, said that in the Ghatkopar East assembly constituency, 184 of the 283 employees appointed for BLO duty were from the education department. This includes 157 teachers.

Nanda Kamble, vice-president of teachers’ organisation Shikshak Bharati, said that teachers had continued to carry out both academic and non-academic duties but questioned the impact on students. “This year, the government is conducting PATs after Diwali even though they were originally scheduled for August,” she said. “When teachers spend so much time away from the classroom, how does the government intend to assess students’ academic progress?”