West Bengal schools plan to reduce teaching days, adopt ‘weekly rosters’ as Census worsens teacher shortage

KOLKATA: Government schools across West Bengal are bracing for acute teacher shortage once the Census enumeration process begins next month. Teachers have already been identified across districts with many attending training in batches. School heads say they are considering reducing instructional days, having different batches attend on different days and similar workarounds to manage.

A notice to parents, issued by a high school in Salt Lake on July 7 and shared on social media last week, stated, “Classes from the pre-primary section to Class 5 would follow a weekly roster from July 7. Under the arrangement, different classes or sections will remain suspended on specific weekdays, while no classes will be suspended on Wednesdays and Saturdays.” The notice also said that the system would continue until further notice.

School heads say the problem is likely to intensify in the coming weeks as more teachers are deputed for Census-related work.

Kolkata school appeals to Census authority

"Teachers are being identified from many schools across Kolkata. From our school alone, 15 teachers have been selected. They are being trained in phases. So far, we have somehow managed without disrupting classes, but there will be problems soon and we will have to find other ways," the headmistress of a Kolkata government school told Academia360, requesting anonymity.

The school is already managing the absence of teachers engaged in election-related work. "Five teachers are currently working as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) twice a week. Until now we have managed, but it won't be possible after some time," she said.

She said the school has approached census authorities requesting that only five teachers be engaged while the remaining 10 are released to continue academic work.

Another teacher from Kolkata confirmed that teachers are being identified in phases for Census duty. "The work will be carried out in phases, and teachers are being trained accordingly," the teacher said.

West Bengal government schools prepare for disruption

Schools outside Kolkata are also preparing for disruptions.

"Three teachers from our school have been selected for Census work and are currently undergoing training. Going ahead, we, too, may have to introduce a roster system similar to that adopted by the Bidhannagar school," the head teacher of a government school in North 24 Parganas said.

School heads fear that if a significant number of teachers remain engaged in Census work over an extended period, maintaining regular classroom teaching will become increasingly difficult, forcing schools to reduce instructional days for some classes or adopt alternate attendance schedules.

“This is a difficult year for us. Many of our teachers were engaged as BLOs (Booth Level Officers) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) work. Besides that, they were involved in Annapurna Bhandar scheme-related work, and now they have been assigned Census duties,” said the head teacher of a school in Bardhaman district. Many BLOs are now doing double-duty as Census enumerators.

West Bengal is already grappling with acute teacher shortages.

“Completing the syllabus is a big problem, there was so much disruption, starting from April this year when SIR had started. Now the census will continue till September then the Puja vacation starts. We just have the month of November with us. Final exams in early December. How will students cope?” said the teacher.

West Bengal teachers coping with data digitisation

With everything being digitised now, the teachers are facing the added issue of digitising the data using an app.

“West Bengal has around 4.46 lakhs of government school teachers as per the school education department. And they are of different age groups. Not everyone is comfortable using the phone for compiling data. Also, visiting households, helping people fill up forms, and then compiling the data on mobile applications is a huge task. These teachers have to skip food and sleep,” said the head teacher of a school in East Medinipur.

Many of the teachers also complain that frequent changes in mobile apps add to their difficulties in compiling and uploading data.