Booth Level Office work puts school teachers in difficulties

Booth Level Office work puts school teachers in difficulties

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, December 27: Government school women teachers complain that they find it very difficult to implement their duties as booth level officers (BLOs), in the course of which they have to visit houses after school hours and revise voters’ lists. This not only affects their school work, but also forces them to approach houses late in the evening, they say.

The teachers, who have been assigned the post of BLO, have to verify applications to add, delete, or modify voters’ lists, add those who have become eligible for voting, and delete those who are dead. Each teacher is required to cover 300 houses within 15 days; and they are required to do this duty every year, sometimes more than once.

Some teachers say that they are really not comfortable with the task of going from one house to the house, even if they were not forced to do it after dark. By the time they finish their day’s work, it is too dark and returning home becomes difficult. One of the teachers also said that she was once attacked by stray dogs and had to deal with drunken men another time. Another teacher complained that visiting apartment blocks without lifts was a very difficult job. Sometimes voters expressed annoyance when they kept visiting and re-visiting them.

Although DC Subhodh Yadav said that male teachers can be used for the job, it has to be pointed out that the majority of the teaching staff in schools comprises women. The DC said that the school principal has the option of writing to the deputy director of public instruction (DDPI) seeking to be exempted from the work and mark a copy of the letter to him. He also said that teachers can request to be exempted from BLO duty by writing a letter to the DC and marking a copy to the DDPI. He said that the requests will be verified case by case, a process that will take time, but will be done within the following year.

C. Chame Gowda, the DDPI of DK, said that 80 percent of the teachers are women and one cannot discriminate among them because if one woman teacher is let off, the others will request to be exempted too. Getting the work done without the help of school teachers is impossible, he explained. Stating that he was aware of the teachers’ problems, he said that he will discuss the matter with the tahsildars.