College teachers in West Bengal are a worried lot at the moment as they fear being assigned election duties. According to them, they are already busy meeting academic deadlines — such as implementation of National Education Policy — and that their participation in the conduct of elections would derail that process.
The State administration has already started sending colleges lists of teachers who should be sent for training in election duties. This move has also triggered the parallel and usual process of teachers trying to pull their strings to get their names struck off the list.
On Saturday evening, a prominent teachers’ body in the State, the West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association or WBCUTA, wrote to the State Election Commission asking for exemption of teachers from poll duties, saying they were too busy with academic responsibilities.
