Schoolteachers in Uttar Pradesh have been drafted into a door-to-door Covid awareness-cum-survey programme, exposing them to the coronavirus, just when hundreds of teachers have died of the infection after being put on panchayat poll duty.

The aggrieved teachers, deployed in the May 5-9 programme, are asking why they must be the sacrificial lambs every time and why the government can’t instead enlist BJP workers who style themselves “chowkidars (watchmen)” like their supreme leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Four lakh teachers, Asha workers (part-time rural health workers) and Anganwadi (rural childcare and maternity care) workers will form 2 lakh teams of 2 each to cover the state’s population of over 20 crore. Each team will cover an area of about 1,000 people.

“Two years ago, all BJP workers claimed they were chowkidars (in response to a call from Modi). The BJP says it’s the largest party in the world. Why are these party workers not taking up this social work?” Tribhuvan Singh, vice-president of the Uttar Pradesh Siksha Mitra Sangha, an association of contract teachers, said.

“The government should depute them instead of exposing low-level employees to the virus.”

Teachers’ bodies say the lack of PPE kits and mismanagement, which forced many teachers to travel to the polling centres crammed in lorries, were factors behind the widespread Covid infections and deaths among them during and after the April 15-29 rural polls and May 3-5 counting.Anant Rai, a regular teacher at a primary school at Bhelupur in Varanasi district, was sent on poll assignment twice during the panchayat elections. He died of Covid at the Homi Jehangir Bhabha Cancer Institute, Lahartara, Varanasi, on April 24. Rai was the sole breadwinner for his wife and 10-year-old son.

“As a government servant, anybody in his place would have discharged the duty assigned to him. That is fine. But if Anantji was given a PPE kit like those the doctors wear, the possibility of infection would have reduced,” said his brother-in-law Nitin Rai.

“I urge the government to provide proper PPE kits from head to toe to all those being sent on (the current campaign).”During the panchayat elections, as in the Assembly elections in five states, polling officials were given masks and gloves but no PPE kits.

As for the May 5-9 campaign teams, an order issued by additional chief secretary Amit Mohan Prashad gives them these safety tips: wear masks all the time and don’t enter houses or accept offers of tea or snacks from residents.

The toll

Shashank Pandey, joint secretary of the Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh, said a district-wise count of the teachers who had died of Covid after joining poll duty was on.

He said 155 regular teachers had died in just 7 districts — among the state’s 75 districts — where the count had been completed.

Tribhuvan said 136 contract teachers had died state-wide after joining poll duty.

News reports said the Uttar Pradesh Primary Shikshak Sangh had cited a state-wide death toll of 700 primary school teachers who had been enlisted as panchayat poll officials.

Pandey said 18 regular teachers had died of Covid in Varanasi district alone during or after election duty. Some 48 had died in Lakhimpur Kheri, 40 in Lalitpur, 13 each in Sant Ravidas Nagar, Bhadohi and Aligarh, and 10 in Sonbhadra. The lists do not include contract teachers.

“The awareness campaign should have been held before the Covid second wave,” Pandey said.

Tribhuvan said the district education departments in many districts had published official lists of the teachers killed by the coronavirus after joining the poll shift.

According to the official list, 26 teachers died in Ghazipur, 14 in Allahabad, 13 in Sidharthnagar and 16 in Bhadohi.

An official assigned as sector magistrate in Sonbhadra to supervise the April 29 vote said: “There was no proper transport (not enough buses and minibuses). Many schoolteachers who were presiding officers or polling officers had to travel on trucks sitting next to each other.”

Compensation call

Tribhuvan said the Election Commission had laid down that those who died of Covid during or after election duty would be eligible for compensation. He demanded the government not insist on RT-PCR test reports or death certificates to establish Covid.

“Many teachers could not do RT-PCR. They died at their homes. All of them (their families) should get compensation,” he said.

Veena Gupta, president of the state’s Anganwadi Karamchari Union, urged the government to issue guidelines on compensation if any of those involved in the programme died of Covid.

“We have demanded that proper safety gear be provided. That is not happening. We have demanded a Rs 10,000 epidemic allowance and a Rs 10 lakh compensation if anyone dies. Nobody should be forced to do this duty,” Gupta said.

Additional chief secretary Prashad’s order says the goal of the campaign is “awareness, identification of Covid patients and distribution of medicine”.

The team members will call the residents of houses outside, ask questions and educate them about Covid. They will prepare lists of people who have Covid symptoms and ask them to visit the nearest health facility. They will distribute medicines to those with symptoms who are unable to go to health centres. The teams will also inform people about the vaccination programme for those above 18.

An email sent to Prashad asking about the compensation amount and the timing of the awareness campaign brought no response.

Modi, who had styled himself a chowkidar to emphasise his anti-corruption plank in the 2014 election campaign, had started a “Main Bhi Chowkidar (I too am a watchman)” campaign for his supporters in March 2019 after facing the Congress slogan of “Chowkidar chor hai (The watchman is a thief)” over the Rafale deal.

This had prompted hundreds of BJP members, from ministers to workers, to prefix “chowkidar” to their social media handles.