Delhi High Court said that teachers and principals cannot be asked by the municipal corporation to perform the duties which are not related to imparting the education and lies outside the bounds of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.
Justice C Hari Shankar discarded several notifications which required principals and teachers to conduct a household survey and participate in the preparation of the Ward Education Register.
The court clarified that seeking the assistance of teachers and principals in opening the bank accounts of school children and linking them with Aadhaar card is a justified cause but cannot be the cause of proceeding against them in case they do not cooperate adequately.
"This court is constrained to take judicial notice of the fact that there is a prevalent practice, in recent times, of schools assigning to teachers duties and tasks not remotely connected to imparting of education. This, in the opinion of this court, is impermissible and unconscionable in equal measure," it said.
The court added, "Education is a serious affair, and teachers are justifiably regarded as discharging divine duties, nourishing and nurturing the minds of tomorrow. Single-minded devotion, and blind pursuit of excellence must guide every educator. It is no less than an affront, therefore, to belabor teachers with tasks which deflect, detract and distract, from the noble task of imparting education."
The court’s order came after hearing the plea filed by the Akhil Delhi Prathmik Shikshak Sangh, an organization comprising the teachers of schools run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
The plea challenged that the duties assigned to the teachers were not linked to imparting the education such as opening of bank accounts of children of their schools, linking the accounts with Aadhaar and conducting house to house survey to maintain the ward education register. Under the RTE act local authorities are required to maintain the ward education register.
No doubt, the local authority could justifiably request for assistance from the principal and the teachers of the schools, so that the carrying out of the said exercise is facilitated, and so that the purpose thereof is contained. That would not, however, justify issuance by any of the Municipal Corporations, of directives, to the teachers and the principals to mandatorily carry out the said exercise, or even to assist or participate therein, under pain of punitive consequences for default, in any manner," the court said.