Teachers in Delhi now responsible for handling stray dogs? Delhi Govt issues clarification, says ‘Heads of all offices, schools, and…’

The Delhi government on Monday rejected what it called “misinformation” about teachers being given duties related to stray dogs across the city. This clarification came after teachers’ groups raised objections, saying such non-teaching work would disturb the academic session. Last month, the Supreme Court had asked authorities to appoint nodal officers at sensitive public places to deal with the problem of stray dogs. On Monday, the Directorate of Education (DoE) said it had only asked school heads and concerned local bodies to report the steps they had taken to follow the court’s order. It made it clear that no specific tasks were given to teachers.

“As per the directions issued by the DoE on November 20th and 24th, and December 5th and 10th, responsibility has been assigned to the Heads of all offices, schools, and Stadia under the Directorate of Education, as well as to the concerned authorities/local bodies, to undertake the following measures, including submission of exhaustive list of all public and private educational institutions and sports complexes, strengthening of boundary walls, appointment of nodal officers and awareness programmes to prevent habitation of stray dogs,” the DoE said in its statement.

Concerns spread among several teachers’ associations on Monday after a list naming 118 teachers from the North West district as nodal teachers was shared on WhatsApp. Many teachers feared they could be asked to do work like counting stray dogs in and around schools. Several media organisations reviewed the list, but it did not clearly state what duties the nodal teachers would be given.

Responding to the issue, Education Minister Ashish Sood said no orders had been issued to deploy teachers for counting stray dogs. He claimed that the confusion and allegations were being stirred up by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which he said was unable to accept its electoral defeat.

What the Supreme Court say on stray dogs?

On November 7, the Supreme Court described the growing number of dog-bite cases as a “matter of human safety concern”. It directed all states and Union territories to remove stray dogs from places such as schools, hospitals, sports complexes, bus depots and railway stations.

The court said that once these dogs are sterilised, they should not be released back into the same premises. It also ordered that the management of these public places must appoint a nodal officer to ensure proper maintenance and cleanliness, and to make sure that stray dogs do not enter or stay within the campus.