Schools to remain open on July 11,12 for SIR camps in Jalandhar; teachers’ body cries foul

Government and aided schools will remain open on July 11 and 12, despite the weekend, to conduct special camps under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The Department of School Education has directed all schools to function as usual on both days and instructed the entire staff to remain present to support SIR teams.

The camps are being held to accelerate the collection and digitisation of enumeration dorms (EFs). Officials said the initiative is intended to make the process more convenient for voters. Booth-level officers (BLOs) have already distributed forms through door-to-door visits.

Voters can visit their designated polling stations to submit completed forms, seek assistance in filling them if needed, and complete the digitisation process. Officials said the camps would also help voters easily identify their polling stations and locate their respective BLOs.

However, the decision to open schools during the weekend has faced criticism from the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), which called the move inconvenient and unjustified for teachers.

DTF state president Vikramdev Singh, general secretary Mahinder Kaurianwali and finance secretary Ashwani Awasthi said around 25,000 teachers were already engaged as BLOs and supervisors for the SIR exercise, while many others were working as Assistant BLOs. They claimed that these assignments had affected regular teaching in several schools due to staff shortages.

The union alleged that despite the Punjab Government’s assurance of reducing non-academic duties for teachers, they continued to be assigned election-related work, surveys and administrative responsibilities for nearly a year, affecting classroom teaching.

The DTF said if additional manpower was needed for the camps, the department could have assigned one or two teachers from each school instead of calling the entire staff on holidays.

The union further argued that many schools had a sufficient number of teachers, making it unnecessary to require all staff members to attend. The union termed the order “irrational” and “impractical”, alleging that it reflected poor planning and would create unnecessary inconvenience for teachers.