Haryana moves to free government school teachers from non-academic duties

The Haryana government has initiated steps to reduce the deployment of government school teachers for non-academic official work, with Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi asking administrative departments to identify employees who can take on such responsibilities.

In a communication to the administrative secretaries of government departments, the Chief Secretary said employees without clearly defined full-time duties could, wherever feasible, be assigned multifarious responsibilities currently being handled by teachers.

The move is aimed at allowing teachers to concentrate on classroom teaching and other academic responsibilities in government schools.

The Chief Secretary has asked administrative departments to examine their existing workforce and identify employees who could be deployed for non-teaching assignments.

The proposal is particularly significant because government school teachers in Haryana have been assigned a range of duties outside regular teaching, including election-related work, surveys, data collection and other administrative responsibilities.

A meeting of administrative secretaries has been scheduled for Oct 7 to discuss the issue and submit a report to the Chief Minister's Office.

The government has not announced that all non-academic assignments will immediately be withdrawn from teachers. Instead, the current move focuses on finding other government personnel who can undertake such duties wherever possible.

The decision comes amid continuing concerns from teachers' organisations about the effect of non-academic assignments on classroom instruction.

More than 10,000 government school teachers in Haryana had been involved in duties including Booth Level Officer work, Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, household surveys and census-related work, in addition to online and training-related assignments.

Teachers' representatives have argued that such responsibilities reduce the time available for classroom teaching and can particularly affect schools with limited teaching staff.

Haryana School Lecturers Association state president Satpal Sindhu welcomed the latest move and said teachers should primarily be engaged in teaching and academic activities. He also pointed to surveys, data collection and other departmental assignments as duties that have added to teachers' workload.

The issue also has a legal dimension. Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, restricts the deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes, with exceptions including census, disaster relief and election-related duties.

Assigning teachers to other administrative responsibilities can therefore raise concerns about compliance with the provision, particularly when such assignments take them away from classrooms.

The latest Haryana initiative comes as concerns over teacher availability and classroom continuity have intensified. Teachers' organisations had raised concerns about the academic impact of prolonged non-academic assignments, including election-related work.

The effectiveness of the government's latest move will depend on how quickly suitable employees are identified and whether departments actually shift these responsibilities away from teachers.