Amid corona, Punjab school teachers decry their duties at interstate borders; feel burdened

Karam Prakash
Tribune News Service
Patiala, July 26

Amidst odd-hour duties in poor working conditions, and heavy workload, Punjab Government school teachers—who have been put on duties at interstate borders to register the travellers to manage coronavirus—are a harried lot.

The teachers have been put at three points of inter-state borders: Shambu barrier near Ambala, Dhabi Gujran near Patran, and Ramnagar on Patiala Cheeka road.

The teachers are working round the clock in three shifts of eight hours each—in addition to their regular duties of taking online classes. Some teachers have to come from far off places for their duties.

The teachers alleged that working conditions at the checking points were ‘very poor’.

They said basic amenities such as washrooms, drinking water, and safety items were not present there.

When The Tribune visited the place, Sukhdev Singh, a government teacher, who was posted at Shambhu barrier, said, “The working conditions at the checking point are not adequate. We are being harassed as we are given more late-night duties than guys of other departments. Moreover, we are not being provided with any safety items but sanitisers to save ourselves from coronavirus.”

Another school teacher Vikramjeet Singh, said, “Only school buildings are closed but online classes are being conducted continuously, therefore, this is an extra burden on teachers. After eight hours of duties, we have to take online classes despite being tired.”

In the end, school teachers demanded that other departments should be roped in to provide some relief to the teachers.

Vikram Dev, member, Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), said that there is a huge discrepancy in the duty roster at the inter-state borders.

“We have already requested the administration to have a transparent system of posting teachers at the borders.”

The work is being duplicated

The teachers said that to write the entire process of registration into the register was a futile exercise because the same data was already being digitally uploaded on the COVA Punjab application.