Census duty piles on the workload for government school teachers

Government school teachers across India are facing longer hours, safety concerns and mounting pressure as Census 2027 enumeration duties begin

The day has just become longer — a lot longer — for Devika Kumari, a government school teacher in Delhi. She is not marking exam papers; rather, she is going door to door with survey questions in Delhi’s searing heat.

 

Kumari is part of an army of over 3 million — most of them government school teachers — who have been tasked with undertaking the world’s biggest enumeration exercise, Census 2027.

 

“I live in Ghaziabad. The survey area that I have been assigned is almost 1.5 hours away from my home. I am surveying until 7 pm before heading home,” said Kumari. Census duty has seen the workload for many teachers like her increase to 12–13 hours a day.

 

Door-to-door surveys have already begun in the jurisdictions of the New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment, where teachers have now been asked to add weekends to their workdays in order to meet the May 15 deadline.

 

“Of course, the weather is a huge problem for us. But it is also the long hours, no rest days, lack of safety and travel facilities, and a sense of disapproval shown by some households, which makes the entire process exhausting,” said Atul Nath Desai, another teacher in Delhi, as he joined his teammates for Census training.

 

“Teaching can still be managed with physical tiredness, but mental fatigue is the actual cost that the teachers are paying. It is either a 13-hour shift if the school is open or sacrificing the summer vacations,” said Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary, Government School Teachers Association.

 

Delhi is not alone — as India starts its biggest counting exercise after almost 15 years, it puts the focus on the challenges faced by enumerators across the country.

 

In Odisha, where the exercise started on April 16, two on-field enumerators have died from heatstroke.

 

Further, a few cases of violence have been reported in the last 10 days, as many households in rural areas remain suspicious.

 

“Minor cases of violence are not even reported. Security is a major issue,” said Pradeepta Pradhan, president, NPS Secondary School Teachers Association, Bhubaneswar.

 

“Starting time is around 7 am, but there’s no clarity on when it ends. Targets are to be met and it can take the entire day,” he said.

 

Enumerators will get a total of Rs 25,000 for their work, of which Rs 9,000 will be paid when they complete their duty and the remaining Rs 16,000 after the completion of the Census in February 2027. The questionnaire, which is now digital, comprises 33 questions, including those around housing conditions, amenities, asset ownership, and access to the internet.

 

The challenge also lies in the complexity and the length of the questionnaire. According to Pronab Sen, former chief statistician of India, “This is the only comprehensive survey that we have. Most of the questions go beyond direct answers and require interpretation. This is adding to the pressure faced by the enumerators.”

 

Unlike the National Sample Survey, with its smaller number of enumerators, limited sample size, and more time for training, “Here, we have a huge sample size, millions of enumerators, and a very short deadline.”

 

However, in Sen’s view, stretching the deadline could increase the risk of double-counting due to frequent migration.

 

On digitisation, Sen said that it will upgrade and speed up the process, but added that it might make things tougher for enumerators. Pradhan of Bhubaneswar said, “There are internet glitches in rural areas. Teachers are first writing and then feeding on the mobile, it’s double work. They are using their own resources for the process.”

 

A full year of duties

 

Most of the teachers interviewed by Business Standard accepted that Census duty alone is not a major concern. “Election is mostly a five-yearly thing and it (election duty) does not bother us much, but there are hundreds of other non-academic tasks that eat into teaching time,” said Ajit Yadav, member of Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh.

 

“In Haryana, most primary schools have less than five teachers. If two-three go out for government duties, who will manage the school?”

 

The National Education Policy 2020 mandates sharing of school resources, which, according to a government official, can help tackle such situations. “A framework is in place that schools can share teachers and manage the temporary crunch,” the government official said on condition of anonymity.

 

Under Section 27 of the Right to Education Act, 2009, teachers are prohibited from doing non-academic duties — with the exception of elections and Census. However, teachers across the country list a number of non-teaching duties they perform on a daily basis, many of them due to a lack of clerical staff — everything from mock drills to medicine distribution, social awareness campaigns such as literacy drives, and mid-day meal duties.

 

“We get only rice for the mid-day meal. For things like eggs, dal, etc, we have to go to the market to procure them,” said Pradhan.

 

In India, there are over 100,000 schools that work on a single-teacher model. “Single-teacher schools have no option but to shut during these activities,” said Professor Arun C Mehta, founder, academic research platform Education for All.