Karnataka teachers back proposed law to curb non-academic duties
Teachers' associations in Karnataka have welcomed a proposed law that would restrict their deployment for non-academic work, urging early passage.
Teachers across Karnataka have welcomed a proposed law that would regulate their deployment for non-academic work, and have asked the State government to enact it at the earliest so that academic schedules are not disrupted.
The draft legislation covers duties such as revision of electoral rolls, census work, socio-educational surveys and election-related tasks, which teachers say have repeatedly pulled them away from classrooms.
Chandrashekar Nuggali, general secretary of the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers' Association, said the association had raised the issue with Education Department officials and School Education and Literacy Minister Madhu Bangarappa. He pointed out that teachers were deployed for the Social and Educational Survey last year and have been engaged in the Special Intensive Revision exercise since June 2026. With a nationwide population census ahead, the association does not want teachers pressed into census duty, he said, adding that such deployments were seriously affecting academics.
According to Mr. Nuggali, officials have assured the association that the legislation will be passed during the winter session in December.
Devaraje Gowda, a Karnataka Public School teacher in Channarayapatna, also welcomed the move. He described how teachers in his school and other government schools begin their day as early as 6 a.m. for the revision work and reach school around 9 a.m. to teach. Some handle the additional work during lunch breaks and after school hours, leaving them struggling to finish the syllabus with examinations approaching, he said. Teachers also get little time to upgrade their skills or pick up new classroom practices, he added.
Under the draft law, the government is to maintain district-wise rolls of non-teaching personnel drawn from all departments, corporations, public sector undertakings and retired public employees, and use them on priority for non-academic assignments such as the revision exercise and census duty. A government school teacher may be deployed for non-educational work only if the jurisdictional deputy commissioner issues a letter stating that no non-teaching personnel are available for the task.