Teachers meet SDM Phagwara, raise concerns over non-academic duties
A large number of teachers affected by various non-academic duties met SDM Phagwara, Navjot Sharma, under the banner of the Joint Teachers and Employees Forum, Phagwara. The delegation was led by Satwant Toora, Satnam Randhawa, Jasbir Saini, Daljit Singh, Jasbir Bhangoo and Varinder Sharma.
The teachers raised concerns that since the beginning of the new academic session, they have repeatedly been assigned non-teaching duties, adversely affecting the education of students studying in government schools, particularly those from economically weaker sections.
Presenting their case before the SDM, forum leaders stated that while the state government has launched the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise to be conducted door-to-door by BLOs, thousands of employees would remain away from schools for nearly a month. They further pointed out that more than 340 teachers from the Education Department in Phagwara block had been assigned duties for the drug survey and social and economic survey. The teachers expressed resentment over the continuous allocation of such responsibilities, stating that they had recently completed duties related to the first phase of the Census, municipal elections and vote counting and were now being burdened with additional assignments.
The delegation emphasised that teaching is their primary responsibility and urged the administration to ensure that the burden of non-academic work is not placed solely on teachers. They requested that such duties be distributed among employees of other government departments as well so that students’ education does not suffer.
After hearing the concerns, SDM Phagwara Navjot Sharma immediately agreed with the teachers’ genuine demands and resolved the issue on the spot. She assured the delegation that only those teachers who voluntarily consent to participate in the drug survey and social and economic survey would be assigned such duties.
The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and representatives of the Joint Teachers and Employees Forum thanked the SDM for addressing their concerns promptly.
