Mumbai teachers won’t do census work, will rather go to jail

College teachers across the city have come together to protest against the census duty forced upon them by the government.

Saying no to it could lead to action against them under the Indian Penal Code, they have been warned. But the defiant teachers say they are ready to go to jail. If not exempted from census duty, they will embark on a ‘jail bharo andolan’.

The Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union (Buctu) is leading the protest against the government. “The BMC has sent letters to all teachers, ordering them to be available for the compulsory census duty. Otherwise, they will be liable for punishment,” a Buctu member said.

CR Sadashivan, president of the union, said, “The government lacks the manpower to take up such a huge responsibility. So, it is imposing this work on the teachers. We have never been assigned census duty before.”

One of the members said that the letters came in late. “They cannot force teachers to do all the work and help them tide over the crisis. They should have sent the letters in advance. We are ready to face action, but we will not give in to their demands,” the member said.

Buctu chairperson Ramsagar Pandey said, “Government officials have 33 days of paid leave. We have just 10 days of paid sick leave. We have vacations, but even then we have exam paper assessment work and admissions to deal with. We cannot do all of that, plus the census work.”

Buctu has challenged the government to run colleges without teachers. One of its members alleged that college principals were being threatened to send teachers to training sessions even at the cost of examination assessment work.

“Teachers cannot be treated like this. Our post is equivalent to the rank of a Class I government officer. Will they like to be treated like this by the state? Then why should we take it lying down,” a teacher asked.