Bengaluru: Teachers staying away from campuses due to SIR have affected academic activities in schools and could adversely affect students’ results in future, school education and literacy minister Madhu Bangarappa said Friday.“Deployment of teachers from govt and aided schools for SIR is severely disrupting children’s education. As this task drags on, classroom teaching is suffering,” he told the media at his official residence in the city.The minister said the state govt had repeatedly written to Election Commission asking it to exempt teachers. “Although we wrote to Election Commission stating that children’s education is being severely hampered, there has been no response. The EC is acting without any sense of humanity,” he said.Complaints are received from schoolchildren and their parents over the problems teachers face due to SIR duties. There have been reports of schools being left without teachers and children being sent home after the midday meal, he said and emphasised that such a situation cannot be allowed to continue.“Mid-term examinations are currently underway in the state and preparatory exams are scheduled for the near future. The absence of teachers from schools raises worries about how students will effectively face these exams,” he said.“Teachers are exhausted by their SIR duties. The prolonged nature of this task has created a situation where academic activities in schools are not proceeding properly,” he said.TOI wrote about the draft Karnataka Protection of Teachers from Non-Educational Deployment Bill in these columns on Sept 24. One of the highlights of the proposed law is the creation of a non-teacher public duty roll. For this, govt will maintain district-wise rolls of non-teaching personnel from all departments, statutory boards, corporations, public sector undertakings (PSUs), retired public servants, and trained volunteers. These resources must be utilised in full before any teacher can be considered for deployment.“We intend to place it before the cabinet and introduce the bill during a future legislature session,” said Madhu.
