If reports, entries, and logins counted as teaching, Telangana’s government schools would be leading every academic chart. But with lessons still unfinished and teachers caught in a maze of online tasks, classrooms have slowly turned into high-tech paper trails.
Half the academic year has already slipped by, and with exams approaching, teachers are racing not through syllabi but through spreadsheets — all in the name of digital progress.
The teachers, now part-time IT clerks and full-time jugglers, have politely suggested that the department appoint non-teaching staff. Between Telangana Education App uploads, online marks submissions, and digital training sessions, the real classroom looks more like an empty lab than a place of learning.
Some teachers pointed out that the digital revolution in schools has been so successful that even the human connection has vanished. With smart boards and apps now mandatory for every subject, technology has stopped being a tool and started acting like a taskmaster.
“The human connection in education is getting weaker,” said one teacher, noting that teachers now spend more time staring at screens than at students. Add to that the midday meal duties and countless reports, and the teaching job starts to look like a never-ending checklist.
Ahmed Khan, in-charge headmaster of Government High School, Nampally, summed up the situation with a note of frustration, “Half of the academic year has already passed, and we are struggling to complete our portions.
Especially for Class 10, we should finish the syllabus by December, but we are only halfway through. Every year, we usually complete the portion for Class 10 students, but this year, due to the extra responsibilities, we have failed to do so. Now we are in a dilemma about when we will start our revision.”
Sunitha, a mathematics teacher from a government school in Kukatpally, said, “We are losing many working days due to the extra burden given by the Education Department. Now the pressure is only to complete the curriculum — the subjects and workload are increasing. Schools are no longer centres of humanisation; education has become a project of performance.”
At this rate, the state’s classrooms might soon need a new timetable — one period for teaching, and the rest for logging in.
[Written by Meghna Nath of The New Indian Express]
