Govt teachers trapped between school work, Covid-19 vaccine survey

Thousands of government school teachers in the city are trapped between academic requirements and the door-to-door vaccination survey

Thousands of government school teachers in Bengaluru are trapped between academic requirements and the door-to-door vaccination survey.

The Department of Public Instruction asked them to start the academic activities on June 15 and online classes on July 1. The BBMP wants them to do the ongoing survey. Teachers say they feel trapped.

Besides academic work, government teachers are routinely deployed for carrying out various surveys and enumerations. During the first wave of Covid-19, they were enlisted for tracing patients’ contacts, and were relieved only when the daily infections began to fall after months.

As the second wave ebbs, the teachers have been sought by the BBMP for the vaccination survey. The civic body says teachers are an integral part of the survey, which will also have BLOs (Booth Level Officers) and Asha workers. Each surveyor is expected to cover 50-60 houses per ward a day.

Teachers fear a repetition of last year when they had to juggle Covid duties and online classes. It had proved taxing.

According to teachers, it’s not an easy job to visit households to gather details for the vaccination survey or any other such exercise during these pandemic times. Several told DH that many people don’t open the door, let alone provide information.

A teacher said Bengalureans didn’t like sharing their personal details, even if it was for vaccination. The government didn’t help matters as neither the education nor the health department gave teachers ID cards.

Then there’s the risk of catching the coronavirus infection. “Visiting people’s homes during these times is fraught with risks but we have no option,” said a teacher posted at a school in South Bengaluru. “It’s difficult to manage both academic and Covid duties.”

H K Manjunath, president, Karnataka Secondary School Assistant Masters’ Association, said nearly 50% of high school teachers and nearly all primary school teachers had been deputed for various tasks with the BBMP.

“We have to conduct the SSLC exams in July and we also need to complete the ongoing admission campaign. We have requested the government to relieve teachers from Covid-related works,” added Manjunath.

The department of public instruction has requested the BBMP to relieve all instructors of government primary and high schools from Covid-related work immediately.

The commissioner for public instruction wrote in a letter to the BBMP chief: “As the activities for the current academic year have begun via online and various other alternative modes, we need teachers. It has also been decided to conduct SSLC examinations in the third week of July and for that we also need teachers. Considering all this, it is requested to relieve the teachers from Covid-19 duty immediately.”

BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the survey might take another 7-10 days but nothing was certain.

BBMP zonal officials, too, hoped that the survey would take a few days more. In the western zone, Joint Commissioner (BBMP) Shivaswamy B said that 70% of 5.24 lakh homes had been covered since the survey began on June 7.

In the East Zone, Deputy Commissioner Avinash Babu said survey teams were focused on slum areas, not regular households. He said it might take a few days to arrive at a deadline.