Assigning teachers with duties for the ongoing comprehensive survey in Telangana not only violates the rules of Right to Education Act, but also discourages children from coming to government schools, Balala Hakkula Sankshema Sangham observed on Tuesday (November 12, 2024).
Appealing to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to exempt primary school teachers from the survey, BHSS secretary Raghunandan said the survey is also causing anxiety among teachers as they should teach in the morning hours and take up survey duties post-lunch. While the government order states that 36,559 SGT teachers, 3,414 headmasters are working as enumerators and supervisors in the survey, he reasoned that teachers’ services, as per the Act, can only be used for non-academic work such as Census, disaster relief duties and duties related to elections to Parliament, State legislatures and local governments. The present action of the government can be interpreted as preventing and violating the right of children to education.
“A majority of parents of children studying in the government schools are farm workers and labourers, who leave in the morning and do not return home until evening. Half-a-day school means that when the children come home, no one is there. Parents who go to work even during that half hour would take the children with them and there is a risk of children not coming to schools,” he said.
As per the Act, Mr. Raghunandan cites, primary schools should have 800 instructional hours per academic year and 200 working days.
Published – November 12, 2024 08:50 pm IST
