The deployment of government school teachers for Census 2027 duties in West Bengal has led to widespread concern among educators, school administrators, and parents, especially in Serampore, a town located around 30 kilometers from Kolkata.
The Headmistress of Serampore Girls’ High School expressed concern over the thin workforce at her school as most of them are occupied with census duties.
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“Every clerk in the institution has been deployed for census work, while all teachers except two have also been assigned census duties. Ours is a school with more than 1,300 students across two mediums of instruction. It has become extremely difficult to run the institution with such a severe shortage of staff,” she told The Statesman.
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The Headmistress suggested that instead of withdrawing almost the entire workforce from selected schools, a fixed percentage of teaching and non-teaching staff should be deployed from each institution.
“The Census is undoubtedly a national responsibility,” she admitted.
“However, fulfilling one constitutional obligation should not come at the cost of another equally fundamental right, the right of every child to quality education. A balanced deployment policy would allow both governance and schooling to continue without severely disrupting academic activities,” she said.
Educators across the state fear that the repeated diversion of teachers from classrooms for non-academic assignments has led to widening of gap between government and private schools.
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