Caste census takes a toll on academics in Telangana government primary schools

After a door-to-door survey, teachers are asked to do data entry work, leaving primary schools without instructions, particularly at when the NAS exam is scheduled to be held next week

Hyderabad: Academics in the government primary schools appear to be taking a beating with teachers continuing to be engaged in the Congress government’s caste census in the State.

After a door-to-door survey for three weeks, teachers, who doubled up as enumerators, work is not over yet. They have now been drafted for the data entry work, leaving primary schools without necessary instructions particularly at a time when the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2024 exam is set to be conducted next week.

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Nearly 40,000 educators, including 36,559 Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs) and 3,414 primary school headmasters (PSHMs) working in 18,241 government primary schools, have been tasked with conducting the caste survey and consultation work for a period of three weeks. For this, the government announced a half-day school schedule (9 am to 1 pm) for three weeks as opposed to from 9 am to 4 pm.

Caste census, which began on November 6, is nearing completion. Even though the State government employed data entry operators for entering the data collected in the survey, the teachers have been directed to present during the data entry. This, according to officials, is to ensure that there are no errors in recording the details.

This comes at a time when the Ministry of Education is scheduled to hold the NAS, an assessment test to evaluate the learning levels of students in Classes III, VI, and IX, on December 4.

The primary schools’ teachers are already three weeks away from the schools post lunch due to enumeration work. With this data entry job, they will be away from classrooms for another one more week, affecting students’ preparation for the NAS.

State Teachers’ Union Telangana State general secretary G Sadanandam Goud, who raised the issue with School Education director EV Narasimha Reddy, said mandal and municipal authorities issued verbal orders, forcing teachers to be present during the survey data entry.

“This work is hindering classroom teaching in the primary schools. It will definitely have an impact on students’ performance in the NAS. We want the State government to immediately issue orders to authorities concerned not to utilize services of teachers who took part in the survey for computer data entry work,” Goud added.

In the NAS held in 2021, the State put up a poor show, standing 31st in the country. This performance was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. In order to fare well in this year’s NAS, the School Education department has come up with a strategy, including preparation material, to prepare students for the test.