TIRUCHY: Over 200 government and aided school teachers across Tiruchy Corporation have urged district authorities to exempt them from Booth Level Officer (BLO) duties assigned for the ongoing voter list special revision, saying the full-day duty has crippled classroom learning and left several schools short-staffed for nearly a month.

Under recent Tiruchy Corporation orders, primary and middle school teachers in Tiruchy City, West, East, Manikandam, Thiruverumbur, and Srirangam zones have been assigned full-time BLO duties from November 4 to December 4, leaving schools short-staffed and disrupting regular classes and government education programmes, teachers' associations alleged.

Along with Anganwadi workers and the corporation's clerical staff, teachers have been assigned BLO duties, but associations said government and aided school teachers constitute the majority, causing the greatest impact on school learning. The Tamil Nadu Elementary School Teachers' Federation, led by S Neelakandan and A Perjith Rajan, met the district collector's PA (General) last Tuesday to submit a petition seeking relief from BLO duties and said they plan to meet the collector soon to press their demand.

"Teachers already handle multiple duties, from the breakfast scheme and regular classes to Ennum Ezhuthum, SLAS, and NMMS preparations. With BLO work added, many schools now lack adequate staff, leaving students most affected," said Neelakandan.

According to teachers, the BLO role, which was initially a short-term, camp-based duty, has now evolved into a year-round clerical task involving Aadhaar linking, voter verification, and digital data entry typically done during weekends for which a teacher is paid around Rs7,000 annually.

"This is no longer a temporary election duty; it has become a full-time administrative job. Out of eight teachers in some schools, four are deployed for BLO work," said a teacher from a government-aided school in Thillai Nagar, under the Tiruchy West constituency.

In a separate appeal to Block Education Officers on Friday, the association urged deploying deputation teachers to schools heavily affected by BLO deployment to avoid learning gaps.

"Teachers are ready for election duty and part-time BLO work, but full-time BLO work should be handled by permanent staff, not classroom teachers working 10 am to 5:30 pm. It's unclear if it will end by December 4," said A Perjith Rajan.

When contacted, district-level officials argued that teachers' involvement in BLO work would not affect students' learning, as steps are being taken to deploy deputation teachers in affected schools based on need and teachers' requests.

The story is reported by Pearson Lenekar SR for The New Indian Express