Parliament Question: Deployment of Primary Teachers in SIR

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO:- 2739 ANSWERED ON-09/03/2026 Deployment of Primary Teachers in SIR †2739. Shri Imran Masood:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken any steps to ensure that the regular teaching work is not disrupted due to deployment of Primary school teachers for Special Intensive Revision

(SIR) duties in the Country;

(b) if so, the details thereof including the policy restricting teachers from performing both roles simultaneously;

(c) whether the Government proposes to replace regular teachers with other teaching staff when they are deployed for election related work; and

(d) if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d): Education is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and the majority of schools are under the administrative control of the respective State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. Matters relating to deployment of teachers, including for election- related duties, fall within the administrative domain of the concerned State/UT Governments.

Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides that no teacher shall be deployed for any non-educational purposes other than the decennial population census, disaster relief duties or duties relating to elections to the local authority, State Legislatures or Parliament, as the case may be.

Further, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, in its judgment dated 06.12.2007, upheld the authority of the Election Commission to requisition teachers for election-related duties, recognising the importance of conducting elections in a democratic system. At the same time, the Hon’ble Court observed that such deployment should be undertaken in a manner that does not adversely affect the functioning of schools and the right of children to education, and that engagement of teachers for non-teaching duties should, as far as possible, be scheduled on holidays or non-working days to minimise disruption to teaching-learning activities.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education has issued guidelines dated 13.09.2010 to all States and Union Territories vide which, inter-alia, it has been provided that duties relating to electoral roll revisions will be undertaken by teachers on holidays and during non-teaching hours and non-teaching days. The same is reiterated to all States/UTs from time to time.

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