Poll Duty: Collector Hardens Stand, Unaided Teachers Defiant | Nagpur News

Nagpur: Private unaided schools associations and the government seem to be on a collision course with regards to putting teachers from these schools on poll duty, as both sides are firm on their stands.
District collector Vipin Itankar said, “All schools have to complete the registration with the education department so that we have a count of manpower availability for poll duty.We require 40,000 people for the polls (in Nagpur).”

Education department officials have sent letters to all schools, asking them to send details of their teaching and non-teaching staff. Maharashtra English Schools Trustees Association (MESTA) has opposed the move, due to which many schools have still not complied with the education department directive. Private unaided schools say that since they do not receive any financial aid from the government, they cannot be called for poll duty.
When TOI informed the district collector that many schools are saying they should not be called for such poll duty because of their ‘unaided’ status, he said, “Then let such schools submit a letter saying they will not participate in poll duty. Let such communication be put on record.”
The collector added that all teachers are registered on the government’s U-DISE portal. “It does not matter where their salaries are coming from. Even for poll duty, they will be paid,” said Itankar.
Sanjay Tayde-Patil, founder-president of MESTA, said, “If the government is going to play hard ball, then we are also ready for it. There will be mass agitations by our member schools across Maharashtra if they force our staff members into this.”
Tayde-Patil added, “Government and aided school teachers are earning ₹1 lakh and above, so they should be the ones doing this job. Our private school teachers don’t earn even a quarter of that, get no financial aid, no medical insurance, no benefit whatsoever from the government, and yet are being called up for poll duty.” He said if the government wants to conduct elections, it must deploy its own manpower only.