BMC polls: Teachers, school staff seek paid rest day after election duty; cite long hours and exhaustion

MUMBAI: Teachers and non-teaching school staff deployed on election duty have urged the state government to declare a paid rest day after polling, citing prolonged working hours, physical exhaustion and late-night travel.The Maharashtra Progressive Teachers Association (MPTA), in a representation to the chief minister, election commissioner and education minister, said that although polling officially ends at 5 pm, election-related work routinely continues well into the night. Staff are required to remain on duty until the last voter has cast their ballot, followed by sealing of EVMs, completing documentation and transporting election material to designated collection centres.As a result, many teachers and non-teaching employees work for nearly 30 to 35 hours at a stretch, but are still expected to report for regular school duties the very next day. The association also pointed out that in previous elections, a rest day is usually declared for teachers assigned election duty, and said the absence of such relief this time has added to staff distress.The issue is particularly acute in Mumbai, where many election personnel commute from distant suburban and peripheral areas such as Vasai, Virar, Mira Road, Bhayander, Kalyan, Karjat, Badlapur and Ambernath, making late-night travel unavoidable.

MPTA president Tanaji Kamble said teachers often have to travel long distances and reach their designated polling stations by 5 am, while post-polling responsibilities can stretch well beyond midnight. “In effect, teachers end up working for nearly 35 hours with little or no rest. In earlier elections, a rest day was usually given, but this time even Makar Sankranti was treated as a working day for those on election duty.

At least one day of rest should be granted after such near-continuous work,” he said.Supporting the demand, Dr Madhav Suryavanshi, chief coordinator of Shikshan Vikas Manch at the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, described it as reasonable and humanitarian, and urged the state to take a positive policy decision granting a sanctioned paid rest day to all school staff deployed on election duty.