Teachers out on poll duty, students sit idle in schools

Gurgaon: Government school teachers are spending more time on election duty these days as booth level officers (BLOs) than in classrooms, causing students to sit idle.The state election commission has appointed a total of 1,270 BLOs in the city, comprising government servants from all sectors, including Anganwadi workers and staffers of MCG and the education department. While most of the BLOs are Anganwadi workers, about 400 teachers have been included as well.Most of the teachers appointed on election duty are from the primary sections, leaving these classes empty most of the time. The staff of a Model Sanskriti Primary School in the city said that they have a total of 15 teachers and have to send seven of them on election duty daily.“We have been asked to come on weekends and before or after school hours. When it comes to collecting data for voter ID cards, which should not be our job in the first place, people don’t come to help centres late in the evening or early in the morning. We end up working for the elections even during school hours. How are we sup-posed to focus on our primary job, which is teaching, when we are already tired with other duties?” a teacher asked.“Students at primary levels need the utmost attention of their teachers. But we either have to leave them unattended, or in the hands of a substitute, which is subject to availability. We are already short of teachers,” he added.In Sohna block too, an educator at a government primary school said they have 12 teachers and six of them are on election duty.One of the students playing on the school ground told TOI that he has been “having a great time” at school for the past few days. “I come to school, sit in the classroom and chat with my friends. Teachers come sometimes, other times they don’t. I get to play with my friends on the ground, have a midday meal and go back home.”Several teachers from senior secondary classes have also been deputed on poll duty. At least three from a government girls’ senior secondary school in Gurgaon with 50 educators, and one from another senior secondary school with 15 teachers in Sohna, are on election duty.The election office, meanwhile, said teachers act at “supervisory levels” in the elec-tion work as directed. “They are asked to work during the day only on weekends. On school days they are asked to join election duty before or after their school hours,” an official said.