CHENNAI: Teachers in Tamil Nadu are facing increased workload as they are simultaneously engaged in election duties and evaluation of public examination answer sheets, according to a Daily Thanthi report.
Teachers have already undergone the first-phase training on handling electronic voting machines and election procedures, while second-phase training is scheduled in some districts over the weekend.
At the same time, evaluation of Class 12 public exam answer sheets has been underway since April 6 and will continue till April 21.
Teachers are also expected to begin correction of Class 10 (SSLC) answer sheets soon, following the completion of exams.
Additionally, exams for Classes 6 to 9 are currently being conducted in schools and will conclude shortly, after which summer holidays begin. However, teachers involved in election duty may have to delay evaluation work until after the polls.
Teachers’ associations have pointed out that Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are often scheduled during summer vacation, leading to recurring workload issues, and have urged the Election Commission to revise the schedule in future.
Polling for the Assembly elections is scheduled on April 23, with about 75,032 polling booths set up across 234 constituencies. Around 14 lakh teachers and government employees have been deployed for election-related work.