Teachers Answer the Call: Serving as Polling Staff in Lok Sabha Election Despite Fear and Fatigue

Teachers Fulfill Civic Duty: Deployed as Polling Staff for Lok Sabha Election

Vijay Kumar, a postgraduate teacher in Bihar for over a decade is usually the presiding officer during the Elections. He has voiced his distress as he and his team have to spend the night in the booth where there are no arrangements for sleeping. They have to constantly man the booth starting from 7 am and are provided with no breaks. After voting is over, he has to travel in a carrier, with the EVMs, and a huge number of boxes, as the seats near the driver are taken by the collector and deputy collector. The three other polling officers go back on two-wheelers, and if that is not available, they travel with Kumar in the carrier. 

During the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, starting from April 19, government school teachers will be the ones taking down names, checking voter ID cards, inking fingers, and activating the EVMs. There is a report from the last general election where the ECI had 9.2 lakh personnel, excluding the police and security forces. Most of the schools and colleges have received the list of teachers who will be deployed for election duty. However, the experience of conducting the elections varies widely among the teachers. The registrar from a national institute in Maharashtra feels honored to participate in this democratic process. He feels that this is what democracy is all about and at the grassroots level it comes to election. 

Another school teacher from Tinsukia, Assam will have an all-women’s team who will be in charge of the booth. A teacher from Gauhati University had served as a master of training for the polling parties. She explained that the experience was nice, they were first trained and then allowed to train the government officials. However, it bothered her that three teachers would be called for election duty, which led to the suffering of the students as no learning happened that day.

Meanwhile, in parts of West Bengal, teachers are not very joyous regarding election duty due to the fear of violence and interference. A headmaster of a government school in North 24 Parganas district and Barasat Lok Sabha Constituency confessed that they face a lot of problems. They had requested not to appoint heads of institutions for election duty, but it was not approved. He explained that it has become more difficult as recruitment rates are low and there is a shortage of teachers. 

He also expressed the fears of his colleagues and himself regarding the attempts at rigging the votes. He recalled an incident where some people told them to not take the slips for counting, a day before the state elections. He was able to resist the people, owing it to the security. He stated that many polling officers do not have adequate security, and the situation is out of control in most elections.

Amit Kumar Singh, assistant professor at the Department of Botany, Magadh University, Bodh Gaya said that teachers should only be involved in election duty when there is a crunch in manpower. He felt that just as doctors are exempted from election duty, teachers should also be the last resort. He also said that election duty is not the actual issue, but other tasks, such as checking the cars of the VIPs, including teachers in flying surveillance or recruiting them as videographers are the main problem.

Magadh University is even heavily impacted as it has a strongroom for securing EVMs before and after polling, right till counting. From April 19 to June 4, teachers and students will not be able to visit the campus as it will be a highly secured zone. Singh suggests that strongrooms should be made in separate buildings and not in educational institutes.

(The names in the article are not real names of individuals)

Editor’s Note:

The discomfort that teachers on election duty face calls for prompt facilities to minimize disruptions to teaching and learning. The demanding conditions faced by teachers during election duties, from overnight stays in poorly equipped booths to grueling work hours with no breaks. Better support and limited involvement of teachers in non-essential election-related tasks will make the complete process more smooth without creating much inconvenience for the individuals involved. Skoobuzz believes that democratic duties should be conducted with ease, creating the least amount of discomfort for the individuals involved.