12-hour shifts, 7 days a week, no compensation: Delhi teachers on Covid duty seek relief

Around 30,000 teachers from Delhi government schools, and 7,000 from municipal corporation schools, have been aiding govt efforts to tackle the pandemic.

A quarantine facility at Chhatarpur in Delhi | Representational image | Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

New Delhi: Long duty hours, inadequate protection, and next to no time to recoup — teachers from Delhi government as well as municipal schools who have been deployed on Covid-19 relief duty have raised several concerns in a series of letters to the administration.

Around 30,000 teachers from Delhi government schools, and another 7,000 from municipal corporation schools have been engaged to aid the administration’s efforts to tackle the pandemic as well as ease the impact of the lockdown. Their roles include pitching in with ration distribution and serving shifts at quarantine centres.  

However, they have complained about abysmal work conditions through multiple letters (physical and emails) sent to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office. The last of these letters was sent Sunday evening, but the teachers claim to have received no response. 

ThePrint made repeated efforts, through calls and texts, to get a comment from the CMO and the LG’s office, but received no response. 

‘Concerns not addressed’

ThePrint has accessed all the letters sent by the teachers. In one of the letters, they have complained that they haven’t been promised any compensation despite the fact that they were putting in 11-12 hours daily with just one or no weekly off, while risking their personal safety.

Among other things, they have pointed out that one of their colleagues, on ration distribution duty in Jahangirpuri, had tested positive for coronavirus last month. 

“Teachers are working as frontline workers as much as the others, however, we have been excluded from the Rs 1 crore scheme for ‘corona warriors’, even though the teachers on ration distribution duty have been interacting with a large number of people,” Vibha Singh, senior vice-president of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Teacher Association (DMCTA), told ThePrint.

Singh was referring to Kejriwal’s announcement last month that the families of health workers on the frontlines of the Covid-19 battle would receive Rs 1 crore as compensation if they were to die in the line of duty.

The Delhi Government Schools Teachers’ Association (DGSTA), meanwhile, said their demands include at least “minimum relaxation/rest” for those deputed on Covid-19 duty — a concern they have stated in separate letters to district magistrates (26 April) and the chief minister (3 May). 

The teachers, the letters claim, have been performing duties at shelter homes, besides quarantine, hunger-relief and ration distribution centres. 

“Teachers deputed in quarantine centres are assigned 12-hour shift along with doctors but surprisingly they are given no break or rest days while doctors are given home quarantine days in lieu of their days for continuous duty,” the letters state.

Teachers say they feel vexed by the disparity in treatment.

“The teachers are sharing the same risk (as medical staff) but there is no protection for us, unlike for other frontline workers, which we feel is very unfair,” said a Class 9 teacher of a Saket school. The teacher added that it was important to test all the teachers for Covid-19, to ensure they weren’t putting their family members at risk as well.

Other concerns include shortage of sanitisers and masks. “On humanitarian grounds, at least the government or the Delhi education department should at least provide masks, gloves, sanitiser and safety jackets to teachers on Covid-19 duty,” the letters state.

DGSTA general secretary Ajay Veer said they had been raising their concerns “since the rosters were sent out on 30 March”, but to no avail.