Mumbai: Over 700 teachers and non-teaching staff of the Mumbai University (MU) are being roped in the electoral work. These staff members have been informed to focus on academics and at the same time, fulfil responsibilities related to the election duties. Among all the staff, around 123 teachers are involved in different kinds of work like managing polling booths, setting up camps and checking voters’ list.
Teachers along with electoral officers will help manage at the voting centres, especially those set up in various schools and colleges. Teachers claimed, the electoral work though hectic serves as a learning experience and is a way to contribute to the society. Madhuri Ghodke, a teacher, said, “We get an opportunity to understand the whole voting process.
Also, it help us to work at the community level and contribute to the national level at the same time.” Currently, the teachers are managing the end of semester work like setting question papers, supervision and conducting examinations. Dharmesh Singh, a teacher, said, “The final semester examinations are going on and engineering examinations will begin in May.
We are also caught up with examination work but we understand elections are important. Electoral work is extensive and requires many helping hands so we will complete the duties given to us.” Authorities of MU claimed members of teaching and non-teaching staff are informed to give priority to both academics and electoral work.
A senior officer of MU, said, “We have directed our staff members to help in the electoral work as there are very few days left. But at the same time, we do not want our students to get affected so we have informed teachers to complete academic and examination related duties too.”
