The District Education Officer (DEO) and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) School Board have directed all schools — including those under the Gujarat Board, CBSE and ICSE — to relieve teachers and non-teaching staff serving as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) from their routine academic and administrative duties.
The directive, issued following instructions from the district election officer and collector, aims to ease the burden on thousands of BLOs managing election-related responsibilities alongside regular school work in government, grant-in-aid, and self-financed schools across Ahmedabad city, district, and AMC-run institutions.
In his circular, City DEO Rohit M. Chaudhari stated, “Considering BLO duty for SIR-2026 as a national responsibility, all BLOs should be relieved from existing school duties. Any additional work charge should also be withdrawn to ensure that BLO duties are not affected.”
AMC School Board administrator Lagdhir Desai confirmed that a similar order has been issued for all 453 schools under the board.
Teachers have long complained that the dual workload hampers performance and leads to reprimands from school heads. Currently, around 50,963 government employees are serving as BLOs.
Earlier, several teachers objected to being reassigned BLO duties despite having completed them in previous cycles. The Ahmedabad Municipal Teachers Association, in a memorandum, also raised concerns about BLO duties being allotted to staff over 50 years old and to those with disabilities.