Teachers refuse duty to verify ration cards, Punjab govt agrees to spare them
Bathinda : Irked over being repeatedly assigned non-teaching duties , teacher associations across Punjab have refused to undertake verification of new ration cards, prompting the state government to direct deputy commissioners to assign the work to employees of other departments.
Education minister Harjot Singh Bains, when contacted, said, “The government feels that teachers should be spared from this duty as they are already into SIR and other duties. Instructions are being given to deputy commissioners to assign duties for verifying ration cards to employees from other departments.”
The teacher associations, meanwhile, have decided to stop taking up non-essential non-teaching assignments and focus only on teaching. They will, however, continue with duties under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) and the second phase of the Census, scheduled from December 1 to January 5, 2027, with rehearsals beginning in November.
The teachers said the mounting non-teaching workload had left them with little time for classroom teaching this year, adversely affecting students’ studies. They submitted memorandums in various districts on Tuesday, formally declining ration-card verification duties. Some teachers had already received notices after not joining the assignments.
Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) state president Digvijay Pal Sharma said teachers had been engaged in Census operations from April to June 15, followed by SIR from June 25, besides drug surveys and duties for municipal elections . More than 28,000 teachers were assigned duties as BLOs, assistant BLOs, sector officers and supervisors under SIR, he said.
“Now nearly 60,000 teachers will have to perform Census duties for 36 days from December 1 to January 5. While performing such non-teaching duties, they could not do justice to their main avocation of teaching students, which was sheer injustice to students even as we were asked to increase enrolment,” Sharma said.
“During our over 20 years of teaching careers, we have not witnessed such a large number of non-teaching assignments. We are fed up now and have decided not to perform ration-card verification duties even if we are suspended,” he said.
Education minister Harjot Singh Bains, when contacted, said, “The government feels that teachers should be spared from this duty as they are already into SIR and other duties. Instructions are being given to deputy commissioners to assign duties for verifying ration cards to employees from other departments.”
The teacher associations, meanwhile, have decided to stop taking up non-essential non-teaching assignments and focus only on teaching. They will, however, continue with duties under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) and the second phase of the Census, scheduled from December 1 to January 5, 2027, with rehearsals beginning in November.
The teachers said the mounting non-teaching workload had left them with little time for classroom teaching this year, adversely affecting students’ studies. They submitted memorandums in various districts on Tuesday, formally declining ration-card verification duties. Some teachers had already received notices after not joining the assignments.
Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) state president Digvijay Pal Sharma said teachers had been engaged in Census operations from April to June 15, followed by SIR from June 25, besides drug surveys and duties for municipal elections . More than 28,000 teachers were assigned duties as BLOs, assistant BLOs, sector officers and supervisors under SIR, he said.
“Now nearly 60,000 teachers will have to perform Census duties for 36 days from December 1 to January 5. While performing such non-teaching duties, they could not do justice to their main avocation of teaching students, which was sheer injustice to students even as we were asked to increase enrolment,” Sharma said.
“During our over 20 years of teaching careers, we have not witnessed such a large number of non-teaching assignments. We are fed up now and have decided not to perform ration-card verification duties even if we are suspended,” he said.
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