Kolkata, Aug 18 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday expressed anguish over the appointments of school teachers in Census work in West Bengal.
A single-judge bench of Justice Krishan Rao also questioned whether the Union government consulted the state government before taking the decision to appoint school teachers for census work.
Earlier, the Calcutta High Court had also raised questions about the mass appointment of school teachers for census work. At that time, it observed that the state could have recruited a few teachers instead of many at one time, so that there would not be additional pressure on the teachers to continue with the census work along with carrying out their regular teaching assignments.
As a petition challenging the mass recruitment of teachers for Census work came up for hearing on Tuesday, Justice Rao sought information about the time slot allotted to the school teachers for Census work, observing that if the time is allotted after the regular teaching duties and on weekly off days, it would lead to tremendous pressure on the teachers.
He also suggested that the Census authorities change the allotted time for teachers to conduct the Census work.
The bench emphasised that the Right to Education (RTE) and students’ regular classes must not be hampered because of the mass involvement of school teachers in the Census process and advised the state government to work out a balanced administrative plan in the matter.
The petitioners, mainly teachers from state-run and state-aided schools, argued that after travelling long distances to reach their schools and with only Sunday as the weekly off-day, it was impossible for them to take the additional pressure of Census work.
In fact, earlier when teachers in large numbers were appointed to carry out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise before the Assembly elections earlier this year, there were mass protests by the academic community in the matter.
–IANS
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