HYDERABAD: According to the Election Commission’s guidelines, government employees are considered to be on ‘poll duty’ on the day after polling as well. However, for over one lakh government school teachers in Telangana, the rules appear to be a little different.
Teachers deputed on poll duty have to work the entire day on April 11, the day the State casts its votes. They will then have to go home the same night and report to work at their respective schools the next morning i.e., April 12. This means some of them, once they are done handing over machines and other equipment to higher authorities, would have to travel as much as 150 km from their assigned polling stations. With the day also being the last working day before schools go for summer vacation, attendance is mandatory for teachers.
Teachers are miffed with Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar, for refusing to consider their representation on the issue.
T Vijayender Reddy, a teacher at a Zilla Parishad High School, said, “By the time our work at the polling booth gets over, it will be past midnight. We have to rush home after that, try and get some rest, and report at school for duty. If we miss work on the last working day before vacations, all the holidays will be counted as casual leaves for us.”
Several teachers’ association have made representations to the CEO in the past few weeks. They have requested the government excuse them from work on the day after polling.
“We are pushed into working in extreme heat, with barely any facilities. To add to that, we will be losing a day’s salary,” said S Jyothi, a teacher at a BC Welfare Residential School. She added that during the Assembly polls too while teachers from other government schools got OD (Outside Duty) the day after polls, residential school teachers had to report for work without fail.