Multiple duties overwhelm govt teachers

After nearly a month-long disruption in academics and school learning due to floods, government schools across the district have reopened, but not without challenges. The Democratic Teachers Front Punjab (DTF) has criticised the Department of Education for overburdening government school teachers with academic, sports and non-academic duties, despite the disruption caused by the school closures.

DTF’s state president Vikramdev Singh strongly condemned the department for assigning multiple responsibilities to teachers simultaneously without preparing any academic calendar.

He said that September term examinations are currently underway in schools across the state and will continue until next week. Meanwhile, the primary school games have begun today, September 29.

“Now, the Education Department has issued orders to conduct training sessions for the newly-formed School Management Committees (SMCs) on the same days when primary school games are scheduled. It is worth mentioning that along with the ongoing September term examinations, the Election Commission is conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists in the state. Many teachers, who have been discharged from school duties by the Electoral Registration Officers, are currently working as Booth Level Officers (BLOs). In this situation, teachers are confused about their priorities: Should they take their students to participate in the games, attend SMC training, or perform BLO duties?” he asked.

DTF Amritsar leaders Nirmal Singh and Amritsar District Unit head Ashwani Awasthi criticised the state government for its lack of seriousness toward education, the latest example of which is the recent imposition of multiple tasks on teachers by the Education Department. “In many schools, political favourites have been included in SMCs through unreasonable changes, encouraging unnecessary political interference in education. After receiving state-level training funded by the government, these members are now being prepared for trainings at the lower level. Meanwhile, the educational environment in schools is being ruined by involving school principals and teachers in multiple activities at the same time,” said Awasthi, who is also school teacher.

He added that the organisation has long demanded the preparation and publication of an academic and sports calendar at the beginning of each academic session to prevent such confusion for teachers and students. “In doing so, teachers can plan ahead and design their lessons to ensure timely completion of the syllabus. An entire academic year has already been wasted, yet teachers are still being asked to perform multiple duties instead of focusing on classroom teaching,” said Awasthi.

He has urged the government to ensure that only one major task is assigned at a time.