‘Kinnow duty’ upsets applecart of hundreds of Punjab govt schoolteachers

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, February 22

A kinnow glut in Abohar has upset the applecart of the government schoolteachers across the state as they have been burdened with yet another non-teaching assignment following the Education Department’s diktat to distribute the fruit to students as part of their mid-day meal.

Early this month, when reports surfaced that Abohar and its adjoining areas had come up with a surplus crop and with farmers no longer getting remunerative prices, the government decided to kill two birds with one stone. It decided to take out bananas from the mid-day meal menu and instead replaced it with kinnows.

Officials admitted that this way the government wanted to placate the farmers and at the same time it had found a way to add a fiber-rich seasonal fruit to the diet of students.

However, this highly optimistic move boomeranged leaving hundreds of teachers angry at the turn of events. These teachers were already under ‘tremendous strain’ after being asked to prepare votes for the SGPC poll, ensuring maximum admissions to government schools and making sure the electorate achieves the target of surpassing 70 per cent voting percentage in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Members of the teachers’ unions said pre-board and annual examinations were underway and teachers can’t afford to lose time.

Every district has been allocated a day of the week for the fruit to arrive. In Gurdaspur, it arrives every Wednesday at pre-designated places in each of the 19 educational blocks. The Block Primary Education Officer (BPEO) is a nodal officer to ensure proper distribution. The distribution structure primarily involves teachers and the centre heads.

On many occasions, teachers have to dig deep into their pockets to make sure students get their quota of fruit. The fruit is weighed in kilograms when it is packed but has to be counted numerically when it has to be distributed. “There is often a big gap. Teachers are financially burdened when they have to purchase fruit from the market after its numbers fall short. Moreover, buying it from local markets is substantially cheaper than transporting them from faraway places,” said Balwinder Kaur, General Secretary, Democratic Mulazam Federation (DMF).

Amarjit Singh, a schoolteacher in Kalanaur block, said, “In a majority of blocks, teachers have to travel around 60 km to bring the fruit.”

Deputy District Education Officer Parkash Joshi said he had highlighted the issue with the Director General School Education. “Everything will be streamlined soon,” he said.