Teachers refuse to check HSC answer papers, colleges in a fix

Laxmikant Pande, secretary, Mumbai division of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), said there was no question of the answer-sheets being returned unassessed.

“Principals have been asked to keep the answer papers and get them assessed as it is their responsibility. We are sure the agitation will be called off in a few days after which the assessment can be done,” Pande said.

Close to 60,000 teachers across the state, under the banner of Maharashtra State Federation of Junior College Teachers, have boycotted the assessment of answer-sheets of HSC exams that started on February 20.

While teachers have made it clear that exams would not be disrupted, the boycott has left students worried.

A principal from a suburban college said the board’s vehicle carrying bags of answer-sheets dropped the college’s quota in the afternoon.

“But teachers have refused to take any assignments till their federation calls off the boycott,” he said, adding they have kept the these papers at the examination room, which has been locked.

“We have to post a security guard outside the door to ensure no one breaks in. It adds to our burden, which has to be compensated through the college funds only,” the principal added.

Another principal said they faced a similar problem last year. “The government and the board should anticipate such problems in advance and not allow such situations to arise. We know teachers will call off their strike at some point but it would have been better if this had not come up,” the principal said.

Last year, HSC practical exams were disrupted after the education department could not resolve the dispute with junior college teachers. Several colleges could not start their practical exams in time as both teaching and non-teaching staff joined the boycott.

Earlier this year too, teachers had decided to boycott the HSC practical exams, but finally relented after the state education minister discussed their demands in the Cabinet meeting on February 5.

“We had made our demands very clear to the minister in 2013 and since then, our protest has been on. Last year, the government gave us a written assurance but our demands have not been acknowledged,” said Anil Deshmukh, general secretary of the federation.

“We met the chief minister as well as the education minister a number of times before announcing the boycott. The minister had clearly said our demands would be accepted and that a government resolution (GR) would be issued on it. We had given two weeks to the education department to release the GR but, till date, nothing has been released. We will start assessing papers only when the GR is issued, not before that,” Deshmukh said.