Rajasthan government school teachers told to entertain COVID-19 quarantined patients

Howver, the bizarre orders were scrapped by the state government after teachers appealed to the CM to not put them in such non-teaching activities.
Image for representational purposes( Express illustrations)
Image for representational purposes( Express illustrations)

JAIPUR: Rajasthan government school teachers have been asked by various district authorities to entertain COVID-19 patients, count stray animals, ensure social distancing during weddings and raise awareness regarding the ongoing locust attack.

The bizarre orders were passed last week, leading to a furore among teachers. A video of a teacher performing those duties even went viral. Following an appeal to Minister of State for Education Govind Singh Dotasara, the orders were withdrawn. “We have revoked the absurd orders and have also asked officials to not carry out such orders without any written guidelines,” Dotasara tweeted.

The orders were passed by several sub divisional officers. In one such order, Karauli chief district education officer Ganpat Lal Meena asked a dozen physical education and music teachers in 12 quarantine centres of Mandarayan and Todabhim to teach yoga in the morning and organize activities such as singing and musical performances in the evening.

A woman teacher was among the teachers who were asked to entertain the patients in quarantine. They were even asked to make videos of the programmes and send them to additional district education officer Dharam Singh Meena.

In a second order issued by the panchayat elementary education officer of Kishanpura in Baran district, a school principal, referring to the orders of the SDO, asked a teacher to ensure social distancing during a village wedding and also ensure that no more than 50 people attended the wedding.

The coronavirus pandemic has seen plenty of such orders on the teachers. Earlier, the Dholpur district collector had put teachers on MGNREGA inspection duty. There was also an uproar when the SDO of the Etawah subdivision of Kota asked teachers to join locust control teams.

‘No to such absurd orders’

Rajasthan Primary and Middle Teachers’ Association president Shashi Bhushan Sharma, Rajasthan Teachers’ Union president Ravi Acharya and All-Rajasthan Teachers’ Union president Ramkrishna Agarawal have appealed to the CM to not put them in such non- teaching activities.

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