Odisha: Teachers happy with NEP keeping them out of non-teaching works

BHUBANESWAR: Teachers on Friday were happy that the National Education Policy (NEP) has a provision of not engaging them in electioneering, cooking of mid-day meals and other strenuous administrative tasks.
They said it will help them concentrate on teaching and learning, if implemented in letter and spirit.
Rajesh Mohanty, president of the All Odisha Primary Teachers’ Association, said the Right to Education (RTE) Act allows teachers to do census work, disaster management and election duty.But the NEP is against the election work. “If we go by the NEP, the government has to amend the RTE Act. We want to focus on education-related work and provide quality education to our students,” he added.
He said schoolteachers are engaged in census work, correction of voters’ list, monitoring of midday meal programme, working during pandemic and disaster, administrative work, holding school management committee meetings and helping the district administration in implementing some government programmes at the grassroots level.
“In November last year, the state government had announced that women self-help groups will manage MDM programme in schools having more than 100 students. But teachers of many schools in the state monitor this programme,” he added.
A government school teacher from Ganjam, welcoming the decision, said teachers should be given more time to teach. “I am a teacher in a remote village. If a person comes to the school for voter ID-card correction, I have to do it in between classes. Though rules state that we can do it after school hours, people want the work done immediately. Otherwise, they will complain to senior officers or local leaders,” he added.
He said submitting files or reports regarding government programmes, including how many students received books, food in MDM, dress and other facilities in the school is also taxing.
Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association general secretary Prakash Chandra Mohanty said teachers have now been deployed for Covid duty. They also distribute books and other necessary items to students in villages. “I welcome the NEP move, but the reality is different. Proper implementation of the NEP provisions is required for the teachers to focus on teaching only and improve its quality,” he added.