Teachers resent poll duty

Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Gurdaspur, December 16

Discontent prevails among government school teachers, who will be forming nearly 90 per cent of the employees’ workforce to be deployed in the forthcoming panchayat polls, as they claim they are not being given financial compensation in the form of earned leave for a period of four days when they will be on duty.

Teachers will be on duty during Christmas holidays in schools from December 25 till 31.

Another reason for the disgruntlement is lack of security. Union leaders claimed that since these elections were hotly contested, there was every possibility of violence erupting. Their contention is that the state government should provide them with security or else the teachers will not be able to perform their duties.

Financial compensation was given to teachers who did duty in the May 2008 panchayat polls, but it was discontinued in the 2013 elections.

Teachers are demanding an earned leave package for the two rehearsals that are scheduled for December 16 and 23 and for the polls that will take place on December 29 and 30.

Amarjit Shastri, president of the Democratic Teachers Front, claimed that the state government had a provision to give them reimbursement, but due to its empty coffers, they were being made to work for free.

A state government official said it was the duty of the Education Department to look into the demand. However, an Education Department spokesman claimed that they were unable to do so because the department was already working on a shoe-string budget and, hence, had no funds.

“We have to work under tremendous stress. To complicate matters, the results are often challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Presiding officers, returning officers and their assistants are often named as respondents, following which teachers have to travel to Chandigarh to attend court proceedings and that too at their own cost. Normally election-related petitions take several years to be decided. This means that employees, mainly teachers, have to keep on juggling between their places of posting and Chandigarh for the next five years or even more at their own cost,” said Shastri.

Upkar Singh Wadala Banger, a lecturer, who has been appointed as a supervisor to oversee the poll process in a cluster of 10 villages, said security was of paramount importance.

“In the 2008 polls, the ruling SAD wanted its candidates to win following which the Congress candidates protested. This resulted in violence and many of our teachers were injured. This time it’s a role reversal for the political parties, but the ground situation remains the same. We demand more security, particularly in villages where Congress MLAs wield influence, otherwise we will not be able to perform our duties,” he said.

Discontent prevails

• Teachers will be on duty during Christmas holidays in schools from December 25 till 31 
• Teachers are demanding an earned leave package for the two rehearsals that are scheduled for December 16 and 23 and for the polls that will take place on December 29 and 30
• Financial compensation was given to teachers who did duty in the May 2008 panchayat polls, but it was discontinued in the 2013 elections.