Karnataka teachers stretched thin as non-academic duties pile up

Teachers in Karnataka's government schools and pre-university colleges are increasingly being assigned non-academic duties, with the latest being the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This has left educators struggling to balance their primary responsibility of teaching with tasks such as door-to-door verification and claim disposal.

A high school teacher in Bengaluru said he and colleagues have been part of pre-enumeration mapping, enumeration, and now the objection and verification phase of SIR. They have been warned of legal action if they refuse to participate until the process is complete. Meanwhile, authorities expect them to conduct lessons and examinations as scheduled, leaving teachers asking how they can do both at once.

Some are attempting to juggle both responsibilities. A teacher in Bengaluru South district said she teaches in the morning and does SIR work in the afternoon, but lessons remain incomplete and students have not been able to take Summative Assessment-1.

Over the past year, teachers have been deployed for a series of long-drawn tasks, including a caste survey by the Justice Nagamohan Das-headed commission in mid-2025 and another by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes in late 2025. They were also involved in the door-to-door house listing for Census-2027 in April 2026. The Election Commission's SIR, which began on June 30, 2026, has deputed more than 65,000 teachers and lecturers across the state, including as Booth Level Officers. The process will continue until the final voter list is released on October 27, 2026.

But the burden will not end there. The state government plans to hold local body elections in December 2026 and January 2027, followed by Census work from February 2027, all of which are expected to involve teachers.

The impact on academics has prompted concern from within the education department. The Deputy Director of Pre-University Education for Bengaluru Central Educational District wrote to the department director on August 24, 2026, requesting that at least 50% of lecturers be released from SIR duty. The letter noted that 127 of 228 lecturers in 20 government PU colleges are assigned to SIR, hampering daily academic activities and disrupting classes.

A PU college principal said that despite targets set for PU results, meeting them is difficult because of the shortage of lecturers. Requests for additional guest faculty have not been answered by the government.

Chandrashekar Nuggali, president of the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers Association, said teachers are tired of being caught between SIR and academic work. Despite repeated requests not to assign teachers to non-academic tasks, the practice continues.