Election, evaluation duties leave teachers burdened

BENGALURU: Teachers working with the state government schools are under tremendous pressure this summer vacation. Reason: They have to juggle between the evaluation duty and polls-related works.
Apart from evaluating the Secondary School Leaving  Certificate (SSLC) answer scripts, teachers have also been asked to inspect the polling stations for state assembly elections scheduled to be held on May 12. And they are struggling to manage both.

"It's a real challenge for teachers. Many of them visit polling stations during morning hours and join evaluation duty in the afternoon. Both the jobs are mandatory for teachers who are now feeling overburdened," said H K Manjunath, president of Karnataka Secondary Schools Assistant Teachers Association.

Teachers are scared to skip any of these duties following the action initiated by the election commission against 20 teachers.

"In some of the districts, the teachers were suspended for not verifying the voters' list properly. This has scared the teachers," added Manjunath.

According to teachers, they have to visit at least five polling stations in their respective constituencies and inspect them for  the basic facilities.

"During the visit, we need to inspect for basic facilities like toilets, safe drinking water and infrastructure for specially-abled voters and senior citizens. Every day we need to submit the inspection report to the officers concerned. Even a minor mistake can invite action," said a teacher on the condition of anonymity.
"We find it difficult to concentrate on evaluation works after roaming around outdoors under sun. No reason, except severe health issue or family emergency is accepted," the teacher added.