Rajkot's ‘temple duty’ order for teachers raises eyebrows amid acute staff crunch
Education Dept scraps order; but incident isn’t isolated one as teachers are often put on non-teaching duty even as 12,500 teaching and 700 principal posts lay vacant
At a time when Gujarat is grappling with an acute shortage of teachers, a recent order by the Rajkot district administration, asking 30 primary school teachers in Jasdan taluka to dispense their services at the Ghela Somnath temple during the Shravan month, has invited widespread criticism.
While the order was scrapped by the state Education Department after the teaching community protested against it, it has raised concerns over the ruling BJP government’s priority on religion over education and the respect it accords to teachers.
What the notification said
In the now-scrapped notification, the office of the deputy collector and sub-divisional magistrate asked the selected teachers from 10 local schools in Jasdan taluka, to “work at the temple” for a month and help in the conduct of cultural events, and religious discourses and look after the food arrangements of devotees and “VVIP” guests.
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“The holy month of Shravan begins from July 24. During this period that lasts a month, the Gela Somnath temple organises Shravan Mela (fair) each year that receives heavy footfall. There are various events during the fair including cultural programme, lok dayra (folk music), shiv katha and taking care of the visitors and food arrangement for the large number of devotees and special guests,” the notification said.
The teachers were asked to leave their duties no later than 7 in the evening.
“To carry this out smoothly, we order below listed names to work at the temple for this month. Teachers are expected to be at the temple till seven in the evening for the duty. The Taluka Primary Education Officer has also been mandatorily asked to be present at the venue continuously for 30 days,” the order said.
Teachers can’t be put on temple duty: Minister
The Ghela Somnath temple organises the month-long religious fair that begins in July every year. But this is the first time that the government teachers have been ordered to work at the event at the behest of the district administration.
The Ghela Somnath temple organises a month-long religious fair that begins in July every year.
While Om Prakash, the District Collector of Rajkot remained unavailable for comments, state Education Minister Kuber Dindor said the government doesn’t support the district administration’s order and immediately asked for it to be withdrawn.
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“This isn't condoned by the state government. In fact, the Education Department has directed the district administration to take back the order. The teachers can be assigned for essential national duties like elections or voter list revisions but not temple hospitality,” Dindor said.
“A teacher can, however, volunteer at the temple of his/her own accord. But an individual cannot be forced to do so,” he added.
Acute teacher shortage
Incidentally, the order from the Rajkot district administration comes at a time when the state is facing an acute shortage of school teachers. As per data from the state’s Education Department, vacancies for 12,500 teachers and 700 principals across the state are yet to be filled.
In February 2024, responding to a question raised by Congress MLA Arvind Ladani, Education Minister Dindor informed the Assembly that as of March 2023, 5,940 posts of school teachers were lying vacant in 4,146 state-run as well as government-aided higher secondary schools, while 3,260 posts of teachers were lying vacant in secondary schools.
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Besides, over 1,600 government primary schools in Gujarat operate with only one teacher who handles students from classes 1 to 8, the minister said.
Locust control, toilet counting among duties
The latest incident where government school teachers were asked to perform non-teaching duties is not an isolated case. In the past, teachers from across the state have been put on crowd management duty during public meeting of the government or VIP visits to the state, ordered to participate in government events and roadshows along with students, tasked with locust control, toilet counting and have been asked to mobilise crowds for government meetings and public events or VIP visits.
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“Nothing can be more insulting to the teaching community than this. In a state where schools are running with one teacher who handles all classes from 1 to 8, the order raises questions on the priority of the ruling BJP government and its officials. The fact that the district administration issued such an order where teachers won’t be able to teach for a month, speaks volumes about how much the government values education,” said Congress’s Gujarat spokesperson Manish Doshi.
