School struggles as all full-time teachers deployed for poll duty

Kolkata: The headmaster of a state primary school in Murshidabad is facing a tough challenge to continue academic activities with all the full-time teachers in the school being engaged as Booth Level Officers (BLO) by the Election Commission (EC).

Mridadpur Primary School at Lalgola in Murshidabad has 5 full-time teachers that includes its headmaster and 4 assistant teachers. All of them have been assigned the duty of BLOs. There are 3 para teachers in the school that has 815 students.

According to sources, the para teachers usually teach students of class I and II and so the students of class III to V will bear the brunt of the engagement as BLOs.

The Election Commission has already started the training of the BLOs and from November 4 to December 4, the BLOs will have to go door-to-door along with an enumeration form, which is one of the most important aspects of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) initiated by the poll panel.

“The letter of appointment as BLOs reached us before the Puja vacation and we immediately communicated the issue to all concerned top brass of the Primary Board and also to the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO). However, we have received no response till now,” said Saroj Halder, headmaster of the school.

The school’s annual examination is scheduled to be held soon and hence the parents are also concerned about their wards’ academics.

The supervision of the mid-day meal distribution in the school is also expected to suffer. According to a top administrative official in the school, the paucity of teachers has been an issue for the last few years and the matter has been raised before the district primary council chairman on more than one occasion.

Now, with all the full-time teachers being engaged in election duty, continuation of academics in the school has emerged as a major challenge.