Now, private school teachers will also conduct the census—how will they be brought under its ambit?

Along with government school staff, teachers from private schools will now also be tasked with census duties. Learn about the new government order and the rules that will govern the assignment of these duties to private school teachers.

Amid the ongoing digital census process in the country, the central government has implemented a significant policy shift. According to a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, private school teachers can now be deployed for census duties, alongside government employees.

To facilitate this, the government has officially amended the decades-old Census Rules, 1990. This major decision has caused a stir among private educational institutions, as, until now, the entire responsibility for such national surveys and enumeration tasks rested solely with government employees and teachers from state-run (council) schools.

Rules amended following High Court rulings

The central government was compelled to make this legal amendment because several High Courts across the country had recently halted the deployment of private school staff for census-related work. The Allahabad High Court (Uttar Pradesh), the Bombay High Court (Maharashtra), and the Punjab and Haryana High Court (Haryana) had granted interim relief while hearing various petitions on the matter.

These courts held that the existing 1990 rules did not provide a clear legal mandate to compel teachers from unaided private institutions to perform non-academic duties. As these judicial decisions were hindering fieldwork, the central government opted to amend the rules themselves.

How will private school teachers be brought under the scope of these rules?

Under the amended rules, state and union territory administrations have now been granted explicit legal authority to utilize the services of staff from any school—whether recognized or unrecognized. According to the new gazette, this rule applies not only to schools run by the government or local bodies but also to all aided and unaided private educational institutions. Furthermore, teaching and non-teaching staff in schools operated by trusts, societies, or private committees are now also considered fully within the scope of this national duty.

Beyond teachers, others will also be assigned duties

To expand the pool of enumerators and supervisors, the government has looked beyond just school teachers and has brought several other sectors into the fold. Under the new amendments, clerical staff from central and state governments, employees of municipal corporations and local bodies, as well as personnel from public sector undertakings, can be deployed for this task. Moreover, staff from nationalized and private banks, statutory bodies, private companies, and various other government and non-government institutions may also be directed to conduct door-to-door data collection, should the need arise.