PANAJI
As preparations gather pace for India’s first census in more than a decade, the State Education Department has asked teachers to treat the nationwide exercise as a priority, even as questions surface over their deployment and the scope of their role.
The first phase of the census, which is a month-long house-listing and housing survey, is scheduled from April 16 to May 15.
Education Director Shailesh Zingde said teachers would be expected to balance census responsibilities alongside their regular duties. At the same time, he sought to clarify that the Directorate had not directly assigned census work.
“Our role was limited to forwarding the roll list,” he said, adding that it remains unclear whether census authorities have finalised the list submitted by the department.
The remarks come amid reports from some areas that headmasters have been designated as enumerators, which has reportedly raised concerns within sections of the education sector about the potential strain on school administration.
Officials involved in the exercise said nearly 1,500 teachers are likely to be deployed in the first phase alone, forming a significant portion of the field workforce. In total, around 3,000 enumerators and supervisors are expected to be trained and mobilised across the State.
The Directorate of Census Operations, in collaboration with the Directorate of Planning, Statistics and Evaluation, has already completed training for 56 charge and district officers, 52 clerical and technical staff, and six State-level master trainers.
Sources indicated that primary school teachers would make up the bulk of those deployed, as the academic calendar leaves them relatively available during the survey period.
