CHANDIGARH, Nov. 27 -- The Haryana school education directorate on Wednesday applied brakes on the practice of assigning non-academic duties to the government school teachers, directing to "relieve immediately" the teachers currently posted in any "non-academic role" in offices other than the education department. Calling the practice of "teachers currently posted in any non-academic role" a violation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, the instructions issued to all districts education officers, elementary education officers, district project coordinators and block education officers, reiterate to relieve staff in question "without delay." The communication says that "a teacher's highest duty is teaching" and that full availability of teachers to students must be ensured as annual examinations are approaching. "It has been brought to the notice of the department that teachers in government schools are being assigned various types of non-academic tasks. Some teachers have been working in election offices for several years, while others are continuously engaged in non-academic duties at the sub-divisional level," says the November 26 letter (HT has the copy), issued by the assistant director (academic) on behalf of the director general of elementary education. The letter states that "no district or sub-divisional office" will assign any non-academic duty to teachers without written permission from the directorate. The department has pointed out that deployment of teachers in non-academic duties go against Section 27 of the RTE Act, which prohibits assigning any non-educational work to teachers except those specifically exempted under the Act. The letter states that presence of both teacher and student for 220 academic days is mandatory under the RTE Act and that diverting teachers from classrooms negatively impacts learning outcomes. "Teacher absenteeism affects the learning process of students, leading to increased learning poverty, which is a national loss," the communication stated, seeking compliance reports of these orders to be sent to the RTE branch of the directorate. According to Haryana School Lecturer Association (HSLA) president Satpal Sindhu, the practice of assigning teachers tasks other than teaching must be stopped. "Teachers are not multi-purpose staff. They are appointed solely to teach," he said, adding that the load of non-academic responsibilities has been reducing teachers' presence in classrooms, severely affecting students' learning. The communication of the education department further reiterated that to achieve the goals of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, it is imperative that all teachers remain present in schools, provide quality education to children and contribute in shaping the human resources needed for nation-building. Directing to "immediately circulate this letter" among all concerned officers, headmasters, and schools, the letter says: "All teachers and education department staff currently posted in offices of other departments must be directed to join their respective schools immediately."...