Teachers can’t be forced to do census duty: HC
Teachers are not slaves. Their job is to teach- Bombay High Court
The Bombay high court ordered the state to stop forcing teachers from private unaided schools into census duty. The judges were hearing a petition challenging a state order that directed all schools, including private unaided schools, in Maharashtra to keep their “teachers away from local exams from January 1 to March 15″ because of the great need for teachers for census work.
“Teachers are not slaves. Their job is to teach,” said a division bench of Justice P B Majumdar and Justice Amjad Sayed. The Bombay high court ordered the state to stop forcing teachers from private unaided schools into census duty as if they were “slaves”.The judges were “shocked” that the government asked for postponement “of exams without consulting school managements”.
The justices’ ire reflected the concerns of many school managements and teachers who had criticized the government directive as an impediment in their primary job. As a way out, the division bench on Monday suggested the government use the many unemployed people in the state as enumerators. The issue had reached a head in April last year when the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, citing government orders under the Census Act, sent a notice to all schools in the area, directing them to offer employees for census duties and for training.
On April 16, 2010, the corporation asked St Mary’s School, Vashi, to make 20 teachers available for census duty. The school refused. Reasoning that they were busy with educational duties, the school’s principal told the corporation that only five teachers could be spared. In reply, the civic body warned of ‘penal consequences’ if the school did not comply. St Mary’s stuck to its ground.
“No employees of private corporate sector, service sector or even medical institutions are summoned for such duties. There is discrimination against employees of unaided private schools,” said the petition. It added that the state could not summon the staff of unaided schools for government duties since it has no authority over them.
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