Now, school teachers asked to count stray dogs in Bihar

Patna: Even as the apex court is grappling with the contentious issue of stray dogs and underlined that “it’s impossible to read a dog’s mind”, a municipal corporation in Bihar has issued an ill-conceived order asking government teachers to count the stray dogs.

The order has been issued in Sasaram under Rohtas district of Bihar.

In a State where education is in shambles, and the teachers already overburdened with performing the non-academic jobs of booth level officers (BLOs), or doing census or caste census, the additional responsibility of counting stray dogs is a classic example of the absurd way of working of Bihar Government.

Notably, the Sasaram Municipal Corporation has issued the diktat directing all the schools within the municipal limits to appoint a nodal officer from amongst the teachers to gather and share information about the stray dogs.

The designated teacher will have to report on three counts: First, the number of stray dogs in and around the school premises. Second, how is the condition of the stray dogs and third, what measures should be adopted to control such stray dogs.

Even as the move drew sharp flak across the State, Sasaram Municipal Commissioner Vikas Kumar said the directive was issued as per the government guidelines.

“The educational institutions have been asked to collect and collate authentic data on stray dogs so that a proper planning, to check the menace, can be done in the days to come,” the officer said.

The move comes at a time when the Supreme Court is also hearing cases on stray dogs. Bihar has itself witnessed an increase in dog bite cases from 1.4 lakh in 2022 to 2.63 lakh in 2024.

However, the move, asking the teachers to count stray dogs, has not gone down well among the teaching fraternity. “We are already bogged down with non-academic duties. If we are appointed for teaching, we should be primarily allowed to teach,” said a female teacher on condition of anonymity.