The State government has commandeered the service of teachers under the General Education Department to aid the administration in the fight against the pandemic. A senior officer told The Hindu that “with schools closed it is better to train and keep teachers ready to handle any surge in the future.”
The Director, General Education Department, ordered deputy directors to deploy teachers as per the request of District Collectors for COVID-19 control duty without derailing the academic calendar. He said schools should maintain 50% of the teachers to ensure online classes and admissions procedure as per schedule. Teachers should be sent for pandemic control duty in rotation.
The director also sought the details Vocational Higher Secondary Education and High Secondary Education (HSE) teachers for possible COVID-19 duty deployment.
‘Spare HSE teachers’
R. Arunkumar, president of the Aided Higher Secondary Teachers Association, said HSE teachers should not be roped in for COVID-19 duty. Some teachers were still engaged in valuation duties. Moreover, with online classes under way, some were busy with conducting the classes, and others with clearing doubts and notes preparation. Moreover, Plus One admission would begin once the results were declared. The teachers would need to be in schools for processing applications and setting up help desks if the admissions were to be held in a time-bound manner, he said.
‘Already on duty’
Kerala School Teachers’ Association general secretary K.C. Harikrishnan said not only teachers, but officials also were being posted for COVID-19 prevention. Moreover, in Thiruvananthapuram, teachers continued to be on COVID-19 prevention duty. Teachers had been posted in the city, Varkala, and Attingal, he said.