Let’s not engage teachers in work not fit for them

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Frustrated by the imposition of non-academic tasks, schoolteachers across the state have initiated a boycott after being asked to review and provide data for the financial audit of the Midday Meal (MDM) scheme, conducted annually since 2015.

Audit teams are visiting schools district by district, and teachers have been provided with a format to verify and input audit data from each year. The task is particularly onerous and teachers throughout the state have commenced a protest. A spokesperson has stated that teachers have always been roped in for tasks like election duty, census activities, or, in this case, the meticulous audit verification of the MDM scheme spanning several years. This, despite the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which stipulates teachers should not be engaged in non-academic duties, they continue to be burdened with such tasks.

Teachers, and there is a shortfall of teachers across the state, have their academic responsibilities. That is priority. Teachers' primary job is teaching. Additional duties are not only distracting, they impinge on time and inevitably will have an adverse effect on the quality of the work.

Teachers are the nation's most precious resource, dumping work which is not in their sphere shows disrespect and disregard.

Just like there is an accent on children's mental health in our academic system, let us remember that teachers too need to be at peace, have a work life balance and stick to their roles, to be teachers so that they can be the best for what they are trained.

Surely, volunteers can be roped in for these duties. They can be paid an amount to conduct this. There are so many educated young people looking for work, or senior college students and this demographic can be looked at. All it takes is some advance planning. Leave the teachers to teach.