Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Tuesday said using school students as volunteers for SIR of the electoral rolls would not only affect their studies, but is a violation of their right to education.
Sivankutty said the decision to use NSS and NCC students as volunteers for election work was "unacceptable" under any circumstances as studies are going on in full swing in the schools and public exams are around the corner.
The minister was responding to reporters' queries claiming that the Kerala Chief Electoral Officer has said that school students can be used as volunteers for activities related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
"This will affect the education of our children. Under no circumstances should students be given this kind of responsibility. Dedicating students for more than 10 days away from classes for data collection and digitisation work related to the voter list will affect their exams.
"The Education Department has issued an order that students should not be allowed to leave the school during the academic hours. There is an order now that students should not be called for any other program during class time or working time," Sivankutty said.
He said that while social initiatives by the National Service Scheme (NSS), National Cadet Corps and Student Police Cadet (SPC) are encouraged, "it is not right to use children for office and field work by missing classes during school days".
"Using children for other official duties is a violation of their right to education," he added.
The minister said that the Education Department was already cooperating with the SIR work by allocating 5,623 of its personnel, including teaching and non-teaching staff, for being appointed as Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
As a result, it had to induct an equal number of temporary teaching and non-teaching staff on a daily wage basis to ensure academics of students were unaffected.
Sivankutty questioned who would be responsible for any difficulties or problems suffered by children if they miss classes for 10 days and are engaged in election work which is dangerous? "Those who give such tasks to the children will have to bear responsibility if the kids face any difficulties," he contended
