When teachers leave class for election duty

Schools across Maharashtra reopened this week amid the fanfare of Praveshotsav, the state’s annual programme to welcome students into a new academic year. But even before classrooms could settle into a routine, thousands of teachers were back on election duty. Across Mumbai, teachers are spending hours verifying voters, attending review meetings and following up on documents as part of the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.  School administrators say the deployment has come at a time when schools are trying to get the new term on track.At Poorna Prajna School in Dahisar, 24 of the school’s 34 teachers have been assigned Block Level Officer (BLO) duties.

“How am I supposed to operate the school in this situation? The orders state that teachers should perform this work after school hours, but eventually classes will suffer,” said principal Arun Dubey.

Teachers say what was once an occasional election assignment has increasingly become a year-round responsibility.”Our primary responsibility is teaching, but BLO duty has become a continuous assignment,” said Hemant Mashelkar, a teacher at Chogale Vidyalaya in Borivali. “When large numbers of teachers are engaged in non-teaching work, it affects students.”

The issue has also reached the Bombay High Court, where unaided schools have challenged the deployment of teachers for BLO duty.  Government and aided schools, however, have little option but to comply. Teacher groups say resentment has grown further after FIRs were reportedly filed against teachers who failed to report for election work. The discontent has led to the formation of the BLO Duty Grievance Redressal Forum, which claims nearly 500 teaching and non-teaching staff members have joined it within a short span.  Members argue that BLO duties routinely spill beyond school hours and into weekends.

Sangram Santode

As the dismissal bell rang at Matrubhumi Secondary School in Kandivali’s Janupada, physical education teacher Sangram Santode gathered a stack of papers from the staff room and prepared for the second half of his workday.

Moments earlier, stick in hand, he had marshalled students into neat rows for the afternoon assembly. After the national anthem and state song, the children headed home. Santode did not.

On most days, the 43-year-old would make his way to Kandivali station and begin the nearly two-hour journey back to his home in Juinagar, changing local trains twice along the way. But on this Wednesday afternoon, he and two colleagues set off towards Evershine Phase in Thakur Village, one of the areas assigned to them for voter verification under the SIR exercise.

Asked whether he had eaten lunch, Santode smiled. The tiffin he had finished during a short break at school would have to last him until evening, when he hoped to grab a snack before heading home.

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Having left home at 4 am to reach school on time, Santode, who also teaches History, was now preparing to spend the next few hours knocking on doors.

“The exercise is important because it helps ensure that voters are not left out of the electoral rolls. But getting people to engage with us is not easy,” he said.

In an era of scams and online frauds, many residents are wary of strangers seeking personal information. In some housing societies, Santode said, even getting through the gate can take time.

“Many buildings do not allow visitors in without approval from residents. Security guards call them, wait for confirmation and only then open the gates,” he said, pointing to one such complex while waiting for a Block Level Assistant (BLA) to arrive.

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BLAs are representatives of political parties who assist with voter verification. Their familiarity with local residents often helps smooth the process. Once the BLA arrived, the group was allowed into one of the towers after receiving approval from the building manager.

Some residents welcomed them in and completed the verification process. Others declined over the intercom or shut the door after saying they would submit details online. “Many people, including educated residents, are still unaware of the SIR process,” Santode said.

The verification work continued until around 5.30 pm, after which Santode began the long commute home.

The time he finishes varies from day to day, depending on how many households he is able to cover and the challenges he encounters. “After working for so many hours, it becomes difficult to find the energy for the next day,” he said.

For Santode, the long hours are only part of the problem. He said election-related work is increasingly cutting into his responsibilities as a teacher. “Officially, we are told to carry out BLO duties after school hours. But training sessions and review meetings are often scheduled at 10 am or 11 am. How can we be in two places at the same time?” he asked.

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He recalled having to use a free period in school to attend a meeting with a local corporator because several names on the electoral roll did not have addresses or contact numbers. “We wanted to know if the corporator could help identify those voters. If their names are eventually deleted from the list, it is we who will be held responsible for not reaching them,” he said.

Santode spent much of his summer vacation on census duty. Now, with schools reopened, he finds himself balancing teaching with election work.”We are teachers first. Our responsibility is towards students,” he said. “But when election-related work keeps increasing, and the consequences of not complying can be as serious as an FIR, it is the classroom that suffers.”

Two teachers named Sangram Santode and Sandeep Patil from Matrubhumi Education School attend their duties of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the voter list, at Thakur village, Kandivli East in Mumbai on 17 June 2026.

Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee. 17.06.2026

Manisha Nikam

As Manisha Nikam made her way through the narrow lanes of Bhabhalipada in Dahisar, it was not her identity as a Block Level Officer that proved most useful. It was her identity as a teacher.

The sprawling settlement is home to many of her former students. Some left school years ago, but still recognise her instantly. Every few minutes, someone points her towards a house she is looking for or helps her navigate the maze of bylanes. “It is impossible to move through these lanes without local support,” said Nikam, a teacher at G H High School in Borivali.

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“Former students help identify houses, while members of local residents’ associations explain why I am here and reassure people that they can show me the required documents.”

As she spoke on Friday, the final day of the SIR mapping exercise, another former student walked past and greeted her. Every lead mattered.

“I could use all the help I can get today to complete my list,” said Nikam, a resident of Mira Road who has spent the past several weeks moving from house to house verifying voter details. With schools reopening after the summer vacation, Nikam is now balancing election work with classroom responsibilities.

Her school starts at 12.30 pm and, with several teachers assigned BLO duties, the timetable has been adjusted to accommodate both.

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“But apart from being a subject teacher, I am also a class teacher,” she said.  “That means maintaining attendance records, updating government portals and handling other administrative work.”

At one point during her field visit, Nikam stopped for a few minutes to log into a government portal on her phone and update attendance records for her Class 10 students. She teaches English and Social Science from Classes 8 to 10.Finding time for lesson planning has become increasingly difficult. Her mornings are spent on BLO duty, afternoons in the classroom and evenings on follow-up work.

“After reaching home, I still have to call residents for documents and update the records collected during the day,” she said. “Then the same routine begins again the next morning.”

As she moved through the settlement, residents frequently offered her water or soft drinks after learning that she was a local schoolteacher. She declined every time.

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“I even avoid drinking the water I carry because I never know when or where I will find a washroom while working in the field,” she said.

Much of her day is spent explaining the voter verification exercise to anxious or confused residents.

“I am not here to question whether you live here. I am only verifying your details so that your name remains on the voters’ list,” she patiently told an elderly woman who was struggling to locate her voter identity card.

By the end of the day, the constant conversations begin to take a toll.”I keep speaking throughout the field visit, explaining the process and answering questions. Then I have to go to school and teach classes as well,” Nikam said before pausing to suppress a cough.

With the next phase of the exercise underway, there is little respite in sight.

“Now we have to revisit households for form-filling and make sure nobody is left out,” she said.

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For Nikam, the challenge is not just the long hours but trying to do justice to two demanding responsibilities at once.

“We want to do justice to both responsibilities. But when a teacher spends so much time on election work, the classroom inevitably feels the pressure.”

With inputs from Kaizan Kabrajee