PANAJI
Nearly 2,500 government school teachers, mainly from primary schools, have been roped in for the month-long population enumeration exercise of Census 2027 in Goa, which will commence on December 1 and continue until January 4, 2027.
Interestingly, despite the Centre recently amending the Census Rules, 1990, to enable the appointment of teachers from private educational institutions as enumerators, Goa's Census authorities have decided to rely entirely on government school teachers for the exercise, without involving their counterparts from private schools.
Sources said approximately 4,000 enumerators would be deployed across the State to conduct the door-to-door population enumeration. Of these, a little over 2,500 would be teachers, while the remaining workforce would comprise government employees, including personnel from local self-government bodies.
"Little over 2,500 teachers are on duty and the others include government staff, including those from local bodies. No teachers from private schools have been roped in," sources said.
Last month, the Centre notified an amendment to the Census Rules, 1990, allowing States and Union Territories to appoint teachers from aided and unaided private educational institutions as enumerators for the nationwide exercise.
During the first phase of Census 2027, involving house-listing and housing enumeration conducted between April 16 and May 15, 2026, nearly 1,500 teachers were deployed out of a total workforce of around 3,000 enumerators in Goa.
This time too, the authorities have prioritised the deployment of primary school teachers to ensure adequate manpower without causing major disruption to the academic activities of secondary and higher secondary schools, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Census Operations, Goa, is in the process of completing training for enumerators and supervisors. The final phase of training in the talukas of Bardez, Tiswadi and Salcete is currently underway.
The population enumeration questionnaire will comprise 40 questions covering details such as name, relationship with the head of the household, sex, date of birth, marital status, nationality, religion, caste, disability, mother tongue, literacy, educational qualifications, occupation, migration history and fertility-related information.
The Directorate has also emphasised that furnishing census information is mandatory under Section 8(2) of the Census Act, 1948. However, individual information collected during the exercise is protected under Section 15 of the Act and will remain confidential, with data used strictly for statistical purposes.
Ahead of the door-to-door enumeration, a 15-day self-enumeration facility will be made available to residents from November 16.
Under this facility, residents can submit their household details online through the designated portal, se.census.gov.in, at their convenience during the 15-day window. Upon successful submission, they will receive a unique 11-digit Self-Enumeration Identification (SE ID), which must be preserved and shared with the enumerator during the subsequent household visit.
