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Teachers out on SIR duty, government schools struggle to fill void inside classrooms

admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 19:56:00 +0000

Booth Level Officers distributing enumeration forms in the city.
| Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

New Delhi:

With several government teachers enlisted by the Election Commission as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, school authorities have been pushed into reworking timetables to tackle the staff shortage.

In several schools, a single teacher is being assigned to manage two classes. On other occasions, students are being sent to the library or sports ground in the absence of teachers in classrooms.

Principals who are struggling to make these arrangements have expressed concerns over the disruption of regular classes, especially ahead of the mid-term exams in September.

Teachers who have been appointed as BLOs are also finding themselves stretched trying to manage both school and SIR duties, with work pouring into night hours.

Earlier in the week, the Government Schools Teachers’ Association (GSTA) flagged the issue of academic loss in a notice to Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood. In his letter, Ajay Veer Yadav, GSTA general secretary, said, “A substantial number of trained teachers have been deployed as BLOs and BLO supervisors for the SIR exercise. Consequently, the absence of thousands of teachers from schools is likely to adversely impact the education of lakhs of students. Such academic loss cannot be adequately compensated at a later stage.”

Around 13,000 BLOs have been deployed on ground, which include government school teachers, anganwadi workers and ASHA workers. According to the official orders deploying them on BLO duty, they will be required “full-time until October or the completion of the SIR process, whichever is earlier”. The notices also asked respective school heads or managers to make arrangements to relieve them of their duties for the said period.

‘Impacting studies’
However, for a school principal who has had to spare a majority of his senior teachers for BLO duty, putting in place an alternative arrangement hasn’t been easy. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the principal said, “Even some class teachers have been assigned BLO duty. So, who will teach then? Some teachers have been given two registers, and they have to take care of multiple classes.”

But this comes with challenges too, the principal said. “A teacher might have another class. So, we have to merge some classes or send some students to the playground. But this will impact their studies and it will be difficult to complete the syllabus before the mid-term examinations in September.”

Another school principal said, “We can’t leave the students alone. So during free periods, they are being engaged in the library or with sports. We have to alter timetables because the teachers will be away for a much longer time than they usually are for election or other duties.”

‘Double the work’

A senior government school teacher, who has been engaged in BLO duty, said, “In my school, the principal has assigned my school duties to another teacher for the time being. But unfortunately, substitute teachers do not put in the same amount of effort because it is additional work for them, too.”

However, not all schools can afford to spare teachers exclusively for SIR duty. The problem was starker in schools from where more teachers have been deployed for BLO work. A teacher, who along with one more colleague from the school has been assigned SIR duty, said his principal has relieved him of his school duties completely. But in schools from where more teachers have been deployed as BLOs, they are trying to manage both the duties.

Another teacher, who has been going to school in the morning and then heading out on SIR duty said, “There is pressure from both sides. I am going to school and then stepping out to go for door-to-door BLO work. There are no fixed hours as such, and we are working all day, and into the night.”

Similarly, substitutes are taking care of the children at anganwadi centres. “I am fulfilling both my duties at the same time, though I’m managing some of it on my phone. My work starts early in the morning and continues till late at night,” said an anganwadi worker.

Published – July 07, 2026 01:26 am IST

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WTO MC13 | Services trade issues get less attention at WTO despite having over 20% share in world trade

admin — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 06:30:49 +0000

Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala speaks during the opening ceremony of the WTO ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on February 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Trade in services such as movement of skilled professionals accounts for over 20% of the global commerce but the sector is still not getting sufficient attention in the negotiations of the WTO, according to experts and officials.

The experts also said that developed or rich member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are only interested in pushing their own non-trade agenda and not focusing on issues which really need special focus of the Geneva-based multi-lateral body.

Also read: WTO MC13 | What’s on the agenda for India?

Trade Ministers and officials of the 166-member WTO are gathered here to discuss wide ranging issues such as agriculture, and fisheries subsidies.

The 13th ministerial conference (MC13) of the WTO on Feb. 28 entered the third day. MC is the highest decision making body of the global trade watchdog.

“There are enough issues related to trade are there to discuss in the WTO like sanitary and phytosanitary issues, technical barriers to trade and mutual recognition agreements (MRAs), but the developed nations want to push new issues,” an international trade expert, who did not wish to be named, said.

Sharing similar views, an official said that there are no discussions on services trade in terms of how this can be improved.

“There are no talks on that. They are not talking about MRAs, about mobility issues, how the mobility issues will be tackled. They are not discussing the issues which are restrictive for the developing nations,” the official said.

Another expert said that issues like the movement of care-givers from emerging nations to rich nations needs attention as countries like India have demographic dividend for another 25 years and the EU has demographic deficit.

“But they are not willing to accept immigration or mobility rules,” the official added.

Economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that services trade account for over 20% of the world trade and despite that it is mired in non-transparent domestic regulations that impede the cross-border trade.

“It receives far less attention at WTO meetings resulting in insignificant progress on critical issues of importance to developing countries. The only issue that gets priority treatment is extension of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions as it is of interest to the USA, EU and other developed countries,” GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said.

The customs duty moratorium is a temporary measure to prevent countries from imposing import taxes on digital products like software, music and movies.

India, Indonesia, South Africa and many other countries are opposed to the extension which has been renewed every two years since 1998.

“However, it is expected that extension may be agreed for another two years in the spirit of bonhomie and consensus building,” Mr. Srivastava said.

He added that so far there is no progress in the MC13 on a proposal of the G-90 (group of 90 nations which consists of developing countries) for enhancing existing flexibilities and exemptions for developing countries in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

“This could involve longer transition periods for implementing GATS commitments, greater flexibility in domestic regulations affecting services and technical assistance, and capacity building for developing countries,” Mr. Srivastava said.

India had earlier floated a proposal on trade facilitation in services (TFS).

India’s objective behind this proposal is to initiate discussions on comprehensively addressing the numerous barriers — both at the border and behind it — that hinder the full potential of services trade across all modes of supplies.

“The TFS draft emphasises the need for a counterpart agreement in services, which could lead to a reduction in transaction costs associated with unnecessary regulatory and administrative burdens related to trade in services,” he added.

By proposing rules for the four modes of services categorised under the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), India aims to facilitate smoother and more efficient cross-border services trade.

India always pushes for smooth cross-border movement of skilled service providers such as IT and medical professionals, teachers and accountants.

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