Teachers should not be assigned non-academic work.

Teachers should not be assigned non-academic work.

Government school teachers have the job of not just teaching students, mostly those coming from the underprivileged families and those that need extra care but also other non-academic work are on their schedule from time to time.

PM Modi appointed a group of secretaries who suggested that teachers should only keep to teaching and that assigning them other work impacts results of students adversely. Last year, CBSE asked all its affiliated schools to ensure that teachers are not made to do clerical tasks like fee collection, etc.

Teachers are given various other tasks to carry out like election duties, cattle census, pulse polio work, ration card verification and others amongst many. For most or some of these works they are asked to travel to remote locations which hinders the time they are supposed to teach at schools, lowering their level of motivation.

1. Hampering education

Teachers miss a lot of classes when they are assigned other non-academic tasks that makes they travel to far off places. Students are either given holidays on those days like in government schools or unproductive, time killing classes. Either ways they miss on education. Hence, teachers should not be assigned other tasks.

2. Bad results

When fewer classes are conducted, the syllabus remains incomplete mostly and students rely on key books and shortcuts in order to pass the exams. Students are unable to approach the teachers to clear their doubts. Learning becomes less interesting as students lose track of subject line in the gap that happens because of absence of teachers. All of this show in the bad results of students as pointed out by the panel of secretaries.

3. Indiscipline

There are complaints about government schools that they allow students to cheat during exams. The whole indiscipline comes from burdening teachers with works that are not a part of their profession and hence leads to incompetence amongst students. Teachers are also tired of the extra work and become less interested in teaching.

4. Increasing toil

Even private schools make teacher do multi-tasks. In order to cut cost of hiring clerical staff, they make teachers do the accountant’s job of fee collection and other jobs like making teachers travel in school buses with children and managing canteens. These are unfair hard work to teachers. The private schools make enough money from fees; they can definitely hire more staff for other non-academic works.

5. Lowering the morale

Teachers are meant to teach. When they are asked to perform non-academic duties, they know there’s no way they can get rid of them but it leads to lowing their morale as a teacher, directly affecting the coming generation.

6. Unconstitutional

Last year SC directed the 32 teachers who were working as private secretaries to lawmakers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to be relieved of their extra work. Right to Education Act was considered at that time and the court maintained that it would be unconstitutional to engage teachers in work that doesn’t include teaching, conducting exams and evaluating results.

7. More employment

If government hires staff for other works that they make teachers do, it would eventually open up more jobs which will be a positive thing for the people. The same goes for private schools. They can definitely hire more clerical staff, canteen staff and staff who could travel with children in buses.

It is only fair that the unprofessional approach towards sending school teachers to do other tasks be brought to an end. Extra hired staff would increase jobs too.