- It’s not rocket science to comprehend that the primary responsibilities of any teacher are to teach and educate students assigned to ensure the pedagogy is top-notch. The responsibility of a teacher in shaping the young, impressionable mind needs no further elaboration, since the country’s future gains a distinct yet definite pathway to progress along intended lines. As such, the importance and criticality of teachers in the growth of the nation is unparalleled, and cannot be allowed to be diluted one bit. However, apart from their regular teaching responsibilities, teachers across the country are also asked to participate in several other activities, including enumerator duties and other responsibilities undertaken by the government. How fair is it, though?
PC: The Indian Express
- As we are aware, the special intensive revision (SIR) is underway in several states across the country. Of course, teachers are tasked with conducting the enumeration duties aligned with the SIR. It goes without saying that pulling teachers away from teaching can’t mend India’s data poverty. A specialized enumeration service could definitely be thought about. On the one hand,we say teachers are the essential engine of our future, forging a citizenry that can thrive in an AI era. On the other hand, teachers are asked to deviate from their primary task of teaching. Actions speak louder than words, you see. Today, teachers are going door-to-door, houselisting for Census 2027. EC’s SIR exercise has demanded their labour. They get election duties. Not only that.
PC: YouTube
- Teachers must register beneficiaries for govt health insurance schemes, conduct cattle censuses, and survey drug addiction against the backdrop of 10L teaching vacancies in the schools funded by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. Even private school staff are being put on census shifts, under threat of salary cuts. Clearly, browbeating teachers is quite convenient for governments. But their convenience is very costly for the rest of us. Every day a teacher does census work means an education deficit. Since they are not robots, making them sweat in the field during their vacations and after school hours doesn’t lessen this toll. The variety of data the country needs means these disruptions are frequent, not one-off. But data quality cannot be good either. Why?
PC: Mission Telangana
- When the enumerators are resentful and unspecialized, what can be expected? So, what we have here is an ad hoc system with no real upside to it. It’s past time we considered rational, efficient alternatives. Professional enumerators improve data accuracy and consistency across census cycles. How about having a dedicated enumerator service entity, including a permanent cadre both at the centre and in the states? Rather than pulling 30L teachers away from teaching, we could mobilise from a 4cr-strong pool of higher education students. We have the concept of internships for higher grades. Why not make use of the motivated tech-savvy university student community doing the legwork instead? This would be a valuable experience for young Indians. And imagine the riches of data, accurate, timely, accessible. The idea merits consideration.
