Free teachers from poll duty: Karnataka minister

Ahead of the December 5 bypolls to 15 state assembly segments, a Karnataka minister has pitched for teachers being relieved from election duty as it was hampering school activities and indirectly affecting students.

State Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Tuesday wrote to the Chief Electoral Officer to relieve teachers from election duties like Booth Level Officers (BLOs) so that they can entirely focus on teaching their students. In a letter to the CEO, the minister said from the beginning teachers in the state were being involved in election related activities like BLO and electoral rolls enrolment, among other things.

Pointing out that such non-teaching duties had increased for teachers, he said, it was hampering educational activities and indirectly affecting the student community. "As BLO like duty is taking most of the teachers' time, they have to strain in completing the syllabus on time, also teachers are unable to concentrate on their students and school activities," he said.

"This is becoming the reason for the collapse of quality of education, he added. Noting that children of today were tomorrow's citizens and role of good citizens was important for the country's development, Suresh Kumar said: "as our teachers are the builders of good society, there was a need for them to engage with the student community and educational activities with full dedication."