CLASSROOMS COME FIRST: HARJOT BAINS CRACKS DOWN ON TEACHERS’ NON-EDUCATIONAL DUTIES

CLASSROOMS COME FIRST: HARJOT BAINS CRACKS DOWN ON TEACHERS’ NON-EDUCATIONAL DUTIES

•EM Bains directs CS to issue strict instructions & ensure teachers are not to be assigned any non-teaching duty

• Teachers belong in classroom, not in routine clerical & administrative assignments, asserts Bains

Chandigarh, October 4:–

In a decisive move to safeguard the integrity of classroom education, Punjab School Education Minister, S. Harjot Singh Bains, has directed the Chief Secretary, Punjab to immediately stop deploying government school teachers for non-teaching and routine administrative duties.

Taking strong exception to reports of teachers being pulled away from classrooms to perform routine administrative tasks in several districts, the Education Minister has shot off a letter to the Chief Secretary. He termed this practice a grave injustice to both teachers and students, while emphasising the need to prioritise teaching duties and ensure that educators can focus on their core responsibilities.

In the letter, S. Harjot Singh Bains eloquently stated, “Teachers are not just ordinary government employees—they are the torchbearers of knowledge and values, entrusted with the sacred responsibility of shaping the future of Punjab. To pull them out of classrooms and treat them as an easily available ‘tail-end’ workforce for miscellaneous administrative tasks is an injustice not only to them but also to our children, whose Right to Education gets compromised.”

The Education Minister firmly reiterated that Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, prohibits deploying teachers for non-educational purposes. Exceptions include specific duties such as decennial population census, disaster relief, and elections to local bodies, State Legislatures or Parliament. “This provision was enacted with great wisdom,” Minister Bains wrote, to ensure that teachers’ time and energy remain focused on classroom learning, which is the very foundation of our society’s progress.

While acknowledging that urgent governmental work may sometimes arise, S. Bains made it clear that teachers cannot be the default option. “Their presence in classrooms is non-negotiable,” he asserted.

To enforce this directive, S. Harjot Singh Bains has asked the Chief Secretary to issue clear and categorical instructions to all administrative departments and district authorities, mandating that teachers are not to be assigned any non-teaching duty, except those explicitly permitted under Section 27 of the RTE Act, 2009. In any rare and compelling circumstance where deployment is considered unavoidable, prior written approval must be sought and obtained from the Department of School Education before any such deployment.

By keeping teachers in classrooms, Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab government aims to improve learning quality and uphold every child’s constitutional right to a full-time, uninterrupted education. This stand is part of the state government’s broader efforts to improve education in Punjab, which has already seen notable achievements, he added.