Teachers protest, refuse to evaluate HSC answer sheets

More than 72,000 junior college teachers across Mumbai have refused to check Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) answer sheets after March 17, as a mark of protest. The protest has resurfaced for the fifth consecutive year and may delay HSC results.

The teachers, who need to evaluate 25-30 answer papers every day to complete assessments on time, are checking one answer-sheet a day as of now. They have threatened to intensify their agitation if the state education department does not fulfil their demands soon.

The department has delayed implementing the reforms promised to them in the past, complained teachers. Among other things, teachers want Information Technology (IT) to be made compulsory, as well as a separate paper for science.

The boycott will affect close to 17 lakh students across the state appearing for the ongoing exams — this includes 3.4 lakh from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane Palghar and Raigad.

The teachers had earlier set March 3 as a deadline for the department. Since the depart ment failed to comply, teachers said they will stage an agitation on March 16 and then go ahead with a full boycott of the exams ad evaluations.

According to Anil Deshmukh head of the Maharashtra Junior College Teachers Association their repeated pleas have fallen on deaf ears since 2012-13, when the teachers threatened to boy cott exams for the first time. “We will be unable to declare results by June 5, violating Supreme Court orders. But the department has left us without a choice,” he said.

One of the major demands is an increase in the salaries of IT teachers. Another demand is to approve the staff hired after May 2, 2012. “The department stopped approving staff recruited after that date, without justifying their decision. Those teachers are not getting salaries because of this,” said Deshmukh.