The Progressive Democratic Students’ Organisation (PDSO) has demanded that the State government and the Election Commission of India (ECI) immediately relieve government school teachers from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, citing severe disruption to classroom academics.In a statement issued here on Wednesday, PDSO Andhra Pradesh State general secretary A. Suresh argued that deploying teachers for non-educational administrative tasks compromises the right to education of lakhs of students from underprivileged backgrounds studying in government institutions.‘A violation of RTE Act’Highlighting the legal framework, Mr. Suresh pointed out that Section 27 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act strictly prohibits the deployment of teachers for non-educational duties, except for three specific purposes: the decennial population census, disaster relief duties, and duties relating to elections to local authorities, State Legislatures, and Parliament.“The ongoing SIR of voter lists does not fall under these mandated exemptions. Utilising teaching staff for this extensive door-to-door verification process is a direct violation of the statutory provisions of the RTE Act and deprives children of their foundational right to uninterrupted schooling,” the student leader said.Staff crunch hitting schoolsThe student body expressed concern over the existing infrastructure gaps, noting that the national average teacher-student ratio stands at 1:30, and over 1.10 lakh schools across the country are already operating as single-teacher institutions.According to the PDSO, assigning BLO (Booth Level Officer) duties to educators in these single-teacher schools forces them to merge multiple classes or leave classrooms entirely unattended. This has severely hit the timely completion of academic syllabi and piled immense administrative pressure on the remaining staff.The organisation urged the authorities to deploy alternative administrative personnel or educated unemployed youth for the voter verification exercise to ensure that regular schooling in the State remains unaffected. Published - July 08, 2026 08:49 pm IST