GUWAHATI | The deployment of teachers for Census 2027 duties has disrupted regular classes in government schools across Assam, with acute staff shortages leaving several institutions struggling to complete their syllabi ahead of the half-yearly examinations.

The impact is particularly severe in primary schools, many of which operate with only one or two teachers. Teachers’ organisations said the situation could worsen in the coming months as schools prepare for examinations, the third phase of Gunotsav and the next stage of the census exercise.

Assam State Primary Teachers’ Association general secretary Ratul Chandra Goswami said the disruption at the primary level had become particularly serious. “The average number of teachers in primary schools in Assam is two. From the first week of August, teaching has almost stopped in many schools,” Goswami said. Several government schools in the State function with a single teacher, a situation that has also been acknowledged by the Education Minister in the Assembly.

Teachers said districts such as Chirang, Baksa, Nalbari and Sonitpur were among those facing significant difficulties because of staff shortages. The shortage has forced schools to adopt unusual arrangements to keep students engaged. In some institutions, cooks have been asked to supervise children, while senior students have been helping younger ones with lessons.

At Hatigaon High School in Guwahati, principal Abha Saikia said regular classes had been severely affected as teachers were being called for census training and field duties. “We already have two teachers on leave, and two teachers are pregnant. How can we afford to send six teachers for census duty?

We are managing five classes with only five teachers now,” she said. Teachers’ organisations stressed that they were not opposed to the census, describing it as an important national exercise. Their concern, they said, was the manpower planning required to ensure that the exercise did not disrupt school education.

The timing of the exercise has added to the problem. In Assam, self-enumeration was conducted from August 2 to 16, while the Houselisting and Housing Census began on August 17 and will continue until September 15.Goswami suggested expanding the pool of personnel involved in the exercise by including teachers from private schools.

“If the government can bring the fee structure of private schools under law, conduct examinations through government mechanisms and involve their teachers in evaluation of answer scripts, why can’t private school teachers also be engaged in census duty?” he asked.Teachers have also raised concerns over their safety during door-to-door enumeration.Utpal Chakrabarty, secretary of the Assam Junior College Teachers’ Association and general secretary of the Sadou Assam Sanmilita Sikshak Mancha, said the organisation had taken up the issue with the State government following incidents involving teachers engaged in census work.

In Bongaigaon district, a teacher was allegedly threatened with a sharp weapon while conducting enumeration in the Abhayapuri subdivision. In another incident, a woman teacher was injured in a dog attack at Dergaon. Enumerators in some other areas have also reported instances of harassment while carrying out their duties.The disruption has raised particular concern ahead of the half-yearly examinations scheduled for September. “The half-yearly examinations are scheduled in mid-September, and the syllabus has not been completed yet,” Chakrabarty said.

Teachers’ organisations are also looking ahead to an increasingly crowded academic calendar. The third phase of Gunotsav is expected to begin in the first week of February, followed by the HSLC and HS final examinations around mid-February. The Population Enumeration phase of Census 2027 is expected to add another major administrative exercise to the period. “It will be an immensely difficult situation, with no answers in sight,” Chakrabarty said.

The teachers’ organisations have raised their concerns with Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu, who has assured them that the government will work out a mechanism to address the problem. However, teachers remain sceptical about arrangements that could place additional responsibilities on an already stretched workforce. Chakrabarty said teachers had earlier been directed to perform census duties alongside their regular school responsibilities, but the order was withdrawn following protests.