Teachers say they are being forced to join Census work

Teachers say they are being forced to join Census work

FPJ BureauUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 09:41 PM IST
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Mumbai : Despite the Bombay High Court verdict against giving Census work to overburdened teachers, several teachers across the state say they have been instructed to join the Census work and threatened with administrative action if they don’t cooperate.

On October 8, the Bombay High Court has directed the state government that teachers who are busy with term end examination, daily routine administrative work, SARAL data filling, should not been given extra work of Census and election duty.

In two different cases on Oct 8 and Oct 12, 2015, citing the Right to Education Act, the court has underlined that teachers should not be given ‘non-teaching’ works.

The court has also emphasised that the Census and election related work should be volunteer-based and given to those who are interested and there should not be any punitive administrative action against teachers who  express unwillingness for this task.

Legislator Ramnath Mote said: “We received several complaints from teachers that they are forced to join the Census and election work and their respective education officers have threatened them with administrative action, if they failed to join the work.”

The Chief Officer, an administrative head of the Ambarnath Municipal Council, instructed teachers in his jurisdiction to join the work of upgrading National Population Register in Ambernath. Aadhar card numbers are also being added to existing National Population Register.

In a letter dated October 14, 2015, the Chief Officer, Ambarnath Municipal Coucil, has threatened the teachers that council will take action against teachers who will not join the work.

Advocate Narendra Bandivadekar, who was fighting on behalf of teachers’ union, said that it cannot be termed contempt of High Court. He said: “Ideally, this verdict should be for the entire state. However, the Bombay High Court verdict is restricted only for the teachers’ union that had approached the court and not a blanket decision on pan-state level. It is applicable for teachers in Thane, Pune, Satara and Kolhapur area.”

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