Mumbai: Hundreds of teachers of private unaided schools of the state are up in arms over the state government's threat to file FIR against them if they do not perform election-related duties. The assembly elections are scheduled for November 20. Many of them have already received show-cause notices from district administrations for skipping or refusing to participate in election duty training sessions, Sanjayrao Tayade Patil, president, Maharashtra English Schools Trustees' Association (MESTA) told the Free Press Journal on Friday. He said the government has not yet uploaded on its website the list of teachers who are required to do poll duty and yet it has issued show cause notices to them individually.
“Show me the documents on any zilla parishad website or any government website which lists the teachers who are required to take part in the election duties. So basically, we are not required to take part in it,” Patil reasoned. One of the main reason for the reluctance of the teachers to do election duty is that it majorly interferes with their academic responsibilities. Also, the payment made to them for poll duty is marginal. Patil said his association will respond to the show cause notices soon.
The show-cause notice, issued to hundreds of educators, asked why an FIR should not be filed after they did not take part in the training session for election duty. Several schools called the notice “a bit far too fetched.” The non-application of mind on the part of the government can be gauged from the fact that even teachers who had taken part in the training session have received received show-cause notices.
“Our teachers have been attending training sessions. Only on Saturday, they failed to attend it as we had an academic program held at the school. We have replied to the notices and have assured them of our participation in the election process. But sending a notice for missing just one session is a bit too severe,” said a senior official of an international school who wished to remain anonymous.
“The problem with such a large number of teachers participating in the process is that academics suffer. Teachers already have a heavy academic workload and we also have worried parents to answer to. If their children come to school and only a few teachers are present, won’t they ask questions from the school,” asked the official of the school where at least 30 teachers received the show-cause notices.
Some experts, however, are of the view that teachers must participate in election duty as it is also mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. “The number of teachers in the state is at least 10 times higher than the number of staff in other government departments. Their participation is a must during elections. And it is also mandatory as per the law for the teachers to participate in elections and census duties. They also get a remuneration for performing these duties,” said Mahendra Ganpule, the former president of the state’s headmasters association.
