PATNA, May 14 -- The Bihar education department on Wednesday issued uniform guidelines for government school teachers deputed as enumerators and supervisors for the ongoing Census 2027 fieldwork, amid confusion over attendance procedures across districts. In a directive issued to all district magistrates and district education officers, additional chief secretary of the education department, B Rajender, said teachers engaged in Census duties would continue regular classroom teaching and undertake Census-related fieldwork either before or after school hours. The department also directed that teachers be exempted from all mandatory training-related assignments till May 31. The clarification came after Census authorities sought clear and uniform instructions on attendance marking for teachers engaged in enumeration work, citing reports that districts were issuing varying directives, which created confusion among field staff. The letter referred to a PIBstatement on the Union Cabinet's approval of the Census exercise, which stated that government teachers appointed by state governments as enumerators would carry out Census duties in addition to their regular responsibilities. Officials said every Census enumerator would receive an honorarium of Rs 25,000 upon completion of both phases of the exercise - the ongoing phase I comprising houselisting and housing census, and the phase II population enumeration scheduled around February next year. The Census directorate has trained around 2.60 lakh enumerators and supervisors in Bihar, most of them government school teachers, of whom nearly 2.25 lakh to 2.30 lakh have been deployed for the ongoing field exercise....