PUNE Thousands of educators staged protests across Maharashtra on Thursday against the deployment of teachers as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, leading to the closure of several government schools.
The protesters also demanded the withdrawal of the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) requirement for in-service teachers and the immediate cancellation of FIRs filed against teachers who refused election-related duties.
In Pune, a delegation led by the Pune District Secondary and Higher Secondary School Headmasters’ Association met district collector Jitendra Dudi and submitted a memorandum highlighting the increasing burden of non-academic work and various pending demands of teachers.
According to the memorandum, nearly 70-80% of school teachers in Pune district has been deployed for SIR duty.
Mumbai’s Azad Maidan hosted one of the largest such agitations, where around 2,000 teachers, non-teaching staff, principals and representatives of school managements gathered from across the city, despite the state education department warning of salary deductions.
A delegation of teachers later met state education minister Dadaji Bhuse, who assured them that the government would hold a meeting with the municipal commissioner, deputy commissioner of education and revenue department officials to find ways to reduce the burden of SIR duty on teachers.
{{/usCountry}}A delegation of teachers later met state education minister Dadaji Bhuse, who assured them that the government would hold a meeting with the municipal commissioner, deputy commissioner of education and revenue department officials to find ways to reduce the burden of SIR duty on teachers.
{{/usCountry}}Bhuse said the government would consider assigning BLO work to employees from other departments and would also review the appointment of female teachers for such duties.
On the TET matter, Bhuse said the government is positively considering conducting a separate exam for teachers who are already in service, according to delegation members.
Teachers’ unions have demanded a compensation of ₹1 crore for the families of teaching and non-teaching staff who died during BLO and SIR duties. They have also demanded that schools return to their regular full-day schedule and suggested that National Cadet Corps (NCC) and National Service Scheme (NSS) students, along with retired teachers and staff, should be assigned election duties instead of serving teachers.