Gurdaspur admn cancels duties of teachers assigned to check stubble burning

The Gurdaspur district administration has cancelled the orders of more than 400 teachers who were told to check the paddy stubble burning.

DC Dalwinder Singh confirmed the development. "We have decided to withdraw our earlier orders," he said.

The Tribune had highlighted in today’s edition that the DC’s orders of putting on duty teachers for non-teaching assignments were against the repeated assurances given by the Chief Minister and Education Minister.

CM Bhagwant Mann has repeatedly said that “teachers were meant to teach students and no other duty should be assigned to them.”

Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains has also been saying that teachers could not be posted on non-teaching assignments as “this affected the studies of children".

The duties had commenced from September 26 and were to go on till November 30.

Sources said the Secretary (Education) had taken cogniSance of today’s news and told the officials concerned to immediately withdraw the orders.

Amanbir Singh Goraya, co-convener of the Sanjha Adhyapk Morcha, said, “Teachers are a relieved lot. We are paid to teach students and checking stubble burning is out of our job description. I am thankful to the officials concerned who have taken back the orders." He was spearheading the teachers' protests.

The issue had threatened to snowball into a major controversy with several teacher unions saying that they would launch a series of demonstrations if the duties were not withdrawn.

Prabhjit Singh Bajwa, a Batala-based teacher, said, “Actually, we were taken aback when we heard that we had been assigned non-teaching work. The CM has repeatedly been assuring us that we are paid to impart education to students. The latest order of the DC has come as a major relief to the teaching fraternity.”

“Assigning the teaching community non-teaching duties severely impacts teachers’ efficacy, and student learning. The extra workload and stress distract us from our primary function of educating students, leading to burnout and reduced job satisfaction,” said a principal.

Teachers were unanimous that they were worried how they could bring in good results when they would remain absent from their schools for nearly two months.