Edu dept tells schools to ease workload of teachers on voter roll revision duty

Pune: The state govt has directed all secondary and higher secondary schools to reduce the workload on teachers appointed as booth-level officers (BLOs) for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The move comes after repeated complaints that BLO duties were affecting classroom teaching and plans for a statewide agitation on July 9.In a circular on Tuesday, the director of secondary and higher secondary education, Mahesh Palkar, said that schools across the state should ensure that teachers engaged in the voter list revision exercise get sufficient time to complete their election duties without disrupting academic work.The order follows a July 3 communication from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra, which described the SIR exercise as a national duty and stressed the need to complete it within the Election Commission of India’s prescribed timeline.According to the education department’s circular, schools have been told to keep the teaching hours of BLO-appointed teachers to a minimum and schedule them in continuous blocks, preferably during the morning session, until July 30.

“This would allow teachers to finish their classroom responsibilities together and devote the remaining part of the day to voter verification work,” Palkar said.Schools have also been told to redistribute internal responsibilities so that teachers assigned BLO duties do not face additional administrative work. “Those educators who have not been appointed as BLOs must assist their colleagues in academic and administrative support,” Palkar said.The education department has directed all regional deputy directors, municipal education officers and district education officers to implement the instructions immediately and submit compliance reports within the prescribed timeframe.The order has caused unrest among teachers and their organisations. Mukund Kirdat, AAP Parents’ Union for teachers said educators already handling classroom responsibilities are expected to complete the voter roll revision with daily targets of 40 households.“This is an excessive burden. Govt appears to treat teachers as the default workforce for every administrative task, when such work could instead be assigned to trained unemployed youth.”The Maharashtra State Primary Teachers’ Association said they will approach Bombay high court against the deployment of primary teachers for the SIR exercise. “Teachers are facing intimidation and humiliation, while students are losing valuable classroom time.

Completing SIR work late in the evening after school is not practical, and doing it during school hours directly affects children’s education. They should be relieved of these duties,” the association said.Zilla parishad teacher Sangeeta Mahajan from Akola said, “Our Std I to IV enrolment has increased from 39 students two years ago to 59 this year, with five more admissions expected. Attendance is regular, yet both teachers in the school have been assigned BLO duties.

With only two teachers managing so many children, balancing teaching and election work has become extremely difficult.”Anil Shitole, another zilla parishad teacher, said there is constant pressure to complete BLO work, with little regard for teachers’ health or personal circumstances. Many colleagues suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes, but the workload continues. Those who raise concerns fear action against them. I have told teachers in my school not to leave the classroom, despite repeated pressure to send them for BLO duty.

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