State drops after-hours census duty orderfor school teachers
Times of India | 20 August 2026
Kolkata: The state govt on Wednesday informed the Calcutta High Court that it has withdrawn a notification mandating teachers to engage in census work after school hours and on weekends.
This came a day after the HC flagged a lack of coordination between the state and the Centre over the work schedule for teachers assigned census duty and asserted that a balance must be struck between the enumeration work and school duties.
The state told the Calcutta High Court that Section 15A of the Census Act ensures that population count work would not negatively impact an employee’s regular career, job status, or promotion opportunities. The state said each enumerator has to visit 150 houses in a month, which is five premises a day. This is not a humongous work schedule, it said.
Noting that the administration has withdrawn the Aug 3 notification over the census work schedule of the school teachers, Justice Krishna Rao reserved his judgment in the petitions over the allotment of the enumeration work.
Withdrawing the notification, the state school education directorate said the deployment of teachers should be done in a manner that it does not adversely affect learning activities.
It asked the chairpersons and secretaries of district primary school councils, KPSC and Siliguri PSC, as well as district inspectors of schools, to follow the instructions of the census authorities.
The decision followed a request from the commissioner of school education to the senior special secretary of the home and hills department to utilise teachers deployed for census duty, keeping in mind that the academic interests of students were not adversely affected, the directorate said.