SSC EXAMINERS DEMAND MORE TIME TO CHECK ANSWER SHEETS

Examiners and moderators — who recheck corrected answerpapers—havedemanded more time and remuneration for assessment of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams, which is drawing to a close this week. The state education board set tighter deadlines for paper correction this year because the exams had started a week later due to civic elections.

Since the SSC exams began on April 7 to avoid a clash with elections, SSC examiners were given 10 days to correct 200-250 answer sheets for languages and 400 for other subjects. Usually, they get 15 to 20 days for the job.

To make matters worse, transporting the papers from the custody of the school or college, and then distributing it to individual examiners or moderators, alone takes 2-3 days, complained teachers. “Just a week is not enough to check the papers. We need more time,” said Rajesh Pandya, teacher, Fatimadevi English High School and member of the Teachers Democratic Front.

Also, the association has demanded hike in their remuneration, which has been stagnant since 2008. Teachers receive Rs150 as a transport reimbursement and Rs1.75 to Rs3.50 for each paper corrected. “The promised remuneration is given months after the result are out. So the deadlines apply only on teachers and not the board,” said Pandya.

Board officials admitted that they have set tighter deadlines. “The exams started late this year owing to BMC polls, but according to Supreme Court orders we have to announce results before June 5,” said Siddheswar Chandekar, secretary of the board’s Mumbai division. He added that they have not yet decided on the hike in remuneration.