As per the order, permission will be required from the education directorate to relieve computer instructors for non-academic work. A subsequent order issued by the education department, however, said that computer instructors working at schools where ICT labs are yet to be set up can be deployed for non-academic work.
The teachers had said in their complaint to the government that since July, the district administrations have been deputing computer instructors for different digital schemes of the state government and that it has affected day-to-day educational work in the schools.
Vipin Prakash Sharma, senior vice-president of Rajasthan Primary and Secondary Education Teachers’ Association (RPSETA), said, “Computer instructors were recruited by the education department after a long wait to teach students at schools. The department’s basic objective was to provide computer knowledge to the children and having a computer instructor to run the ITC labs in the schools. But soon after their recruitment, these instructors started getting deployed at district administration offices.” The teachers pointed out that work in different departments was being done digitally even before computer instructors were appointed.
After the complaint was sent at the level of director and secretary of the department, the government issued the order saying that computer instructors should not be engaged in non-academic work. “Work to implement various digital initiatives of the government was being done earlier by staff at the district head offices, and the instructors were appointed for a specific purpose at the schools, which was not being fulfilled,” added Sharma.
“With the second order, 25% of the instructors recruited at schools have again gone on deputation. There are much digital work that needs to be done at the schools,” said another teache.
