A string of non-academic tasks take teachers away from classrooms

For the last one year, teachers and lecturers have been assigned long-drawn non-teaching tasks, including caste survey and SIR. | Photo Credit: File photo “Currently, we are assigned to work for the ‘objection and verification’ phase of SIR. Earlier, we were part of pre-enumeration mapping and the enumeration phase too,” said a harried high school teacher in Bengaluru. Next, he and his colleagues will be part of the disposal of notices phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.“We have been warned of legal action if we refuse to participate until the SIR process is fully completed,” he said. "But meanwhile, the authorities are pressuring us to conduct lessons and examinations in schools as scheduled. How to do both at once?” he asked.As teachers and lecturers of government schools and PU colleges are being assigned non-academic activities, SIR being the latest, what is taking a hit is their primary job of teaching.Acts of jugglerySome are desperately trying to juggle. A teacher in Bengaluru South district told The Hindu that she goes to school in the morning and engages in SIR work in the afternoon. “The lessons are not yet completed and students are not even able to do Summative Assessment-1,” she lamented.For the last one year, teachers and lecturers have been assigned long-drawn non-teaching tasks, including caste survey and SIR, despite a demand not to deploy teachers for non-academic work in the interest of students. The Education Department has the largest number of employees and they are routinely deployed for non-work, including elections, census and surveys.In May/June, 2025, the Justice Nagamohan Das-headed Commission conducted a comprehensive survey of Scheduled Caste/Sub-Castes for the implementation of internal reservation in the State. Teachers and Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) employees were deployed for this.Later, in September/October, 2025, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes conducted a caste survey and again, teachers and lecturers were assigned this task.Later, door-to-door house listing of Census-2027 was conducted in April 2026. After this, the Election Commission of India started the SIR from June 30, 2026, for which more than 65,000 teachers and lecturers were deputed across the State, including as Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Disposal of claims and objections will be done till October 22, 2026, and the final voter list will be released on October 27. The teachers will be part of the process till such time.But that will not be the end of non-teaching work. After the completion of SIR, the State government intends to hold elections to local bodies in December and January, 2027. After this, Census work will begin from February 2027. A large number of teachers will be deployed for all these tasks.DDPU’s letterThe Deputy Director of Pre-University (DDPU), School Education Department, Bengaluru Central Educational District, wrote a letter to the director of the department on August 24, 2026, requesting them to take appropriate action to release at least 50% of the lecturers from SIR duty.“A total of 7,858 students are studying in 20 government PU colleges in Bengaluru Central Educational District, and 228 lecturers are working. Out of these, 127 lecturers are assigned to SIR. This is hampering the daily academic activities of the college and disrupting classes,” said the DDPU’s letter.A PU college principal pointed out that a target has been set for PU results this year, but this is proving tough to meet because there are no lecturers in the colleges. “Despite requests to provide additional guest faculty, the government is not responding,” he said.Speaking to The Hindu, Karnataka State Primary School Teachers Association president Chandrashekar Nuggali said that teachers were getting tired of being caught between SIR and academic activities. “Despite repeated requests not to assign teachers to non-academic work, it continues to happen,” he said. Published - September 04, 2026 10:45 pm IST