Pesticide Control to Pilgrimages: Govt teachers routinely burdened with, and punished for, non-academic work

In 2024, Vinu Shivali, a government school teacher in Bidadi, Karnataka, was suspended. Her alleged oversight: failing to arrange craft materials for an annual function. X has been teaching at the school for eight years and was expected to pay for the crafting gear she had to fetch with her own funds.

Across India, teachers are increasingly facing suspensions and disciplinary action, not for their performance in the classroom, but for failing to manage an overwhelming workload of non-teaching, civic duties. For instance, a teacher in Deodurg was suspended on charges of evading mandatory election duties, while four educators in Jammu and Kashmir faced suspension for administrative "lapses" during their deployment for the Amarnath Yatra.

In Maharashtra and Ludhiana, teachers have revolted against being forced into Booth Level Officer (BLO) roles, and in Gujarat, they were even tasked with conducting stray dog surveys on school campuses. When educators push back, they frequently find themselves punished.

Teaching Jobs: Beyond the classroom

Teachers Academia360 spoke to described being assigned responsibilities unrelated to academics. A government school teacher near Shirdi , said she was once deputed, along with other school staff, to accompany officials during a Sai Baba darshan programme involving a political representative near Khandoba. "It wasn't the first time. We were asked to assist because we are government employees. These duties take us away from classrooms," she said.

In Tamil Nadu’s Salem , government school teacher Zayina Zakhir recalled spending long hours preparing charts, decorations and campaign material for official programmes."This happened about three years ago, but I still feel it needs to be spoken about," she said. "We were told the charts were for students, but many were prepared for official events. We used to remain in school until around 7 pm colouring charts and making decorations. We are teachers, not craftspeople."

Leena, a government school teacher from Sindhanur, Karnataka , pointed to the workload associated with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the caste census work, speaking about her sister, who is also a government school teacher. "She worked for more than 14 hours every day verifying, cross-checking and checking records while continuing to teach. The work was relentless," she said.

Govt teachers step in for schemes

In West Bengal, after a brutal SIR round, teachers were pressed into helping with enrolment for the Annapurna Bhandar scheme, which provides monetary assistance to women. Teachers associations had opposed the move.

But being co-opted into helping with a wide variety of government schemes and initiatives, typically for enrolment, verification and data-entry work, is worryingly common.

"We were assigned clerical work for a government scheme related to pesticide control and fertiliser distribution for farmers. Almost our entire teaching staff spent nearly five months on it instead of focusing on classrooms,” said Susharidhi, a government school teacher in Rajasthan’s …Kota . “The work involved entering and verifying large volumes of data, and even a small mistake had serious consequences. Two of my colleagues were suspended simply because some numbers were entered incorrectly. It created constant fear that any clerical error, not a teaching failure, could cost us our jobs. Running our families with just the bare minimum is already difficult and this would be scary to be out of a job from nowhere."

Sarasu, a school association member originally from Tamil Nadu who has worked with NGOs and schools across northern India, said the issue often extends beyond procedural lapses, with suspensions at times reflecting deeper conflicts between teachers and school management.

"Over the years, I've seen teachers suspended for something as minor as not writing their full names on an attendance sheet. But in many cases, there are underlying personal differences with the management that never make it into the official order," she said.

Recalling one case that stood out to her, Sarasu said a government school teacher in a remote village in Uttar Pradesh had repeatedly raised concerns about the shortage of textbooks and mobilised support from fellow teachers and parents through petitions seeking intervention from the authorities.

"As internal pressure mounted, she was eventually suspended on the grounds that she had not written her full name on the attendance register. Officially, that was the reason, but everyone knew there was much more to it," Sarasu said.

Teachers: ‘Easiest workforce to deploy’

Education and policy expert George J, originally from Kerala and now based in Bengaluru, said teachers have become the "easiest workforce to deploy" because they are government employees expected to comply with official orders. "Over time, they have been treated as readily-available labour for work that often falls outside their core responsibility of teaching," he said.

According to George, the burden is as much psychological as it is administrative. "Many teachers are expected to handle government portals, verification exercises and other assignments without adequate training, yet they're afraid of the consequences of making mistakes. Most don't question the work because they fear disciplinary action." He added that the pressure is especially acute in rural schools, where staff shortages force teachers to manage multigrade classrooms alongside administrative duties, leading to cumulative mental fatigue.