The Punjab School Education Department has instructed all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to make sure that no school teachers and lecturers are involved in any non-teaching tasks or assignments that keep them out of classrooms. The department stated that the repeated involvement of teachers in non-academic work had an impact on classroom teaching, education and learning of students.
The instruction was issued when there was apprehension over the involvement of government school teachers in various assignments like the verification of ration cards, surveys, etc. Recently, teachers working in several districts had objected to the involvement of teachers in verifying applications for new ration cards. Sources confirmed that hundreds of teachers in Ludhiana and Patiala districts had participated in the task.
The School Education Department is of the view that the academic work of teachers should remain their primary responsibility. According to the department, the provision of Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 gives permission to teachers to be involved in only certain non-educational tasks. Election, decennial census and disaster management are among those tasks.
Furthermore, the government has also taken into account the involvement of teachers in the current process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ roll. Since the process is expected to be completed by September 30, it has requested concerned authorities to cut down the number of teachers to be employed after completion of their tasks through this process.
Latest directives also include a request to district administration to involve more non-teaching staff for administrative tasks. In case such tasks cannot be avoided, then the concerned authorities have been directed to complete these tasks outside the working hours of school-going children. Multiple district-level administrative duties should not be assigned to any single teacher.
Such a directive was made after an increasing concern expressed by teachers regarding administrative activities. Last month, teachers in Punjab decided to boycott these administrative activities, especially those related to verification of ration cards.
Teachers are required to perform certain tasks as directed by the DC. This has been clearly ordered by the School Education Department, and any special need to engage teachers for performing work outside the scope will require approval from the School Education Department.
This directive has been issued with the intention of keeping teachers engaged in teaching work only.
