Pune:
Teachers appointed as booth level officers (BLOs) for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Pune district will have their teaching workload reduced and reorganised to ensure that classroom teaching is not affected, while they will also be expected to carry out election-related duties after school hours and on holidays.
The directions, issued by the Maharashtra chief electoral officer (CEO), come amid concerns raised by teachers’ organisations over the deployment of school teachers for door-to-door voter verification during working hours which they said is disrupting academic activities.
In a communication addressed to the principal secretary of the school education department on Monday, the CEO’s office has asked all schools to restructure the teaching schedules of teachers assigned BLO duties so that they can complete their classroom responsibilities in a continuous block of time before undertaking election-related work. Schools have also been asked to minimise the teaching workload of such teachers wherever possible, to facilitate the revision exercise.
The CEO’s office reiterated that in line with the Supreme Court’s (SC’s) judgment in the Election Commission of India (ECI) versus St Mary’s School and others case, teachers should ordinarily perform election duties only on holidays, non-teaching days, or after school hours so that students’ education is not affected.
The communication noted that district election officers have already been instructed on June 27 to ensure that BLO work assigned to teachers is carried out outside instructional hours. However, given the scale of the ongoing revision exercise, the school education department has now been asked to issue further directions to all schools to facilitate the participation of teachers.
{{/usCountry}}The communication noted that district election officers have already been instructed on June 27 to ensure that BLO work assigned to teachers is carried out outside instructional hours. However, given the scale of the ongoing revision exercise, the school education department has now been asked to issue further directions to all schools to facilitate the participation of teachers.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from rationalising the teaching workload of teachers serving as BLOs, schools have also been directed to ensure that teachers who have not been assigned election duties assist their colleagues in managing classroom responsibilities. The objective is to reduce the burden on teachers engaged in the revision exercise while ensuring that academic activities continue uninterrupted.
District collector and district election officer Jitendra Dudi said that the directions have already been implemented across Pune district. “The chief electoral officer has directed that the teaching workload of teachers appointed as BLOs be rationalised so that classroom teaching is not affected. Schools have also been instructed to ensure that teachers who are not assigned BLO duties assist those engaged in the SIR exercise. Necessary directions have been issued for effective implementation of these instructions across Pune district,” Dudi said.
He added that teachers appointed as BLOs will be expected to undertake election-related work after school hours and on holidays to ensure that the SIR is completed within the timeline prescribed by the ECI.
The SIR, launched across Maharashtra following directions from the ECI, is being undertaken for the first time in nearly 24 years. Since June 30, BLOs have been carrying out door-to-door verification, distribution and collection of enumeration forms and updation of voter details for preparation of error-free electoral rolls.
Describing the SIR as a national responsibility, the CEO’s office said that BLOs play a crucial role in completing the exercise on schedule and ensuring that electoral rolls remain accurate, updated and free of errors.