West Bengal school teachers deployed for SIR now ordered to join Annapurna Bhandar duties; plan to move court

KOLKATA: School teachers pressed into completing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) at break-neck speed in West Bengal have now been assigned a new task – getting the Annapurna Bhandar scheme off the ground. School teachers who served as Booth-level Officers (BLO) for the elections have now been directed to function as “Field Implementation Officers” for the Annapurna Yojana. They are not happy about it and sporadic protests are breaking out across districts.

"We did everything that was asked for in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). We were told that we would play an important role in the election process and we fulfilled our responsibilities. That work is now over. We do not understand why we are again being assigned another set of duties under a government welfare scheme," a teacher said, adding, “Why should the new government assign school teachers for this?”

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The newly-elected BJP government’s Annapurna Bhandar scheme replaces the previous government’s Laxmi Bhandar, both of which provide cash support to women in the state. But following the SIR and the BJP’s promise of doubling the incentive from Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,000 per month, there’s renewed scrutiny and a know-your customer (KYC) process for existing beneficiaries. Those whose names were excluded in the SIR will be removed from the scheme as well.

This is where the school teachers come in. Their responsibilities include downloading the form and helping residents fill them, reading through, conducting home visits, carrying out field verification, and determining whether applicants are eligible for benefits under the scheme.

The orders have come from district magistrates and block development officers. But West Bengal BLOs intend to challenge the orders in court. A primary school teacher from North 24 Parganas who has been summoned again said that teachers had completed all responsibilities assigned to them during the SIR exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

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BLO school teachers unpaid

Teachers also say that they have not received their full payments for the SIR-related work.

"We were promised Rs 20,000 but received only Rs 13,000. The remaining amount is still pending. I also had an assistant BLO helping me throughout the exercise, but he has not received a single rupee so far," the North 24 Parganas teacher said.

According to the teachers, several BLOs who worked on polling day are also awaiting payments.

"Assistant BLOs have not received a single penny so far. Several BLOs who worked on polling day have also not been paid. I have informed the Election Commission about these issues, but I have not received any response yet," said Kinkar Adhikari, general secretary, Shikshanuragi Oikya Mancha.

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‘Harming school education’: Teachers’ association

"We do not want to do this work. Annapurna Bhandar is a government scheme. We are teachers and this is not part of our educational responsibilities. What will happen to the students?" the teacher said.

They say that repeated deployment for non-academic work has severely affected classroom teaching. As reported earlier, the SIR alone had severely hampered school education in the state with teachers, even principals, away on election duty for months.

"We have not been able to focus on our teaching duties for months. Students are suffering because of this. I work in a school with six teachers, and three of us have been assigned BLO duties. Why did we study, complete our B.Ed degrees and clear the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) if we are constantly being assigned non-teaching work?" the teacher asked.

Adhikari said the repeated non-teaching assignments thrust upon teachers are damaging to schools and students.

"If teachers continue to be deployed for various schemes, what will happen to schools and students? What happens to children's right to education? Why can't the government recruit a separate workforce for such activities? Were teachers appointed to implement schemes or to teach?" he asked.

Education should not be disrupted

Adhikari said the association has already written to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal objecting to the deployment of teachers for such duties.

He argued that prolonged diversion of teachers away from classrooms undermines the constitutional commitment to education.

"We are not against government programmes. However, if the teaching workforce is being misused, we will raise our voice. We urge the authorities not to disturb teachers and not to compromise the education of students. Teachers should be allowed to focus on teaching, which is their primary responsibility," he said.

‘Loss of trust’ after SIR

Even if they were to do it, the job of verification has become much harder. Teachers said their relationship with local communities has been affected following the SIR exercise.

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According to a teacher, several people whose details were verified during the exercise later found that their names had been deleted from the voter list.

"In my area, I visited many homes during the SIR exercise and the names of 68 people were eventually deleted. Villagers now think that I am responsible for those deletions. People have lost trust in us. Visiting homes has become very difficult because many residents believe BLOs are responsible for removing names from the electoral rolls," the teacher said.