Teachers may receive compensatory leave for the census during the holidays

Primary and secondary school teachers who are deployed as enumerators for the July 1-30 phase of the home and apartment census are likely to be given compensatory time off to conduct home visits during the holidays.

An order to this effect is likely to be issued soon.

However, school teacher organizations require time off for weekday visits. To avoid any disruption to studies, daily wage teachers may be sent to attend classes for school children during the census, they say.

The organization says it is not very practical for teachers, most of whom are women, to make home visits before and after school because of the risks and other demands on their time. “The census questionnaire has 34 questions. Census commissioners will take at least half an hour for each house. In such a situation, how many houses will they be able to cover after teaching the children?” they ask.

In such a situation, teachers end up taking leave to complete weekday home visits. If they are not replaced by daily wage teachers in schools, academics will suffer. Per diem teachers must be sent only on days when regular teachers cannot come to school.

The organizations also point out that in some schools, a large number of teachers have been deployed as enumerators. This will lead to complete paralysis of these institutions. For example, in Thiruvananthapuram district, 15 out of 16 teachers at GLPS Anad and 12 out of 15 lower primary and 12 out of 15 upper primary teachers at GUPS, Vithura have census duty. In GHSS, Manacaud, 51 out of 64 secondary school teachers have been deployed as enumerators, they point out.

The teachers, who were previously deployed as enumerators, say the number of hours teachers can spend visiting during the holidays is limited. “It’s not practical to expect them to visit homes all day.”

However, ministry officials say teachers can visit households before 11 a.m. and after 3 p.m. Non-teaching staff and staff from other government departments also have a census duty similar to that which teachers will have to do.

A decision on the intra-district transfer of primary and secondary school teachers is also expected on Monday.

Published – 27 Jun 2026 23:31 IST