Colleges adjust exam schedule to ease poll pressure on teachers

Some government-aided schools and colleges are adjusting their examination schedule in order to allow teachers more time to complete both academic and electoral work. While some junior colleges have changed examination dates, others have begun assessment on a daily basis after completion of every examination paper.

Teachers revealed they do not want to create a backlog of answer papers to be assessed during the end of this month. Falguni Pandit, a teacher, said, “We are spending three to four hours every day after the examination to correct answer scripts through the online assessment process. After completion of paper correction, we are attending training for electoral work. We do not want to keep paper correction for the last minute because our workload will increase as we approach closer to the poll dates.”

In order to ease the pressure on teachers, some junior colleges have shifted their first semester examination dates.

Shaad Afroz, a senior teacher, said, “We appealed to our college to change the dates of first semester examinations because we do not have sufficient time to manage academic work. Also, admissions to First Year Junior College (FYJC) are still going on, so we need more time to complete the syllabus. It is better if we conduct examinations once elections are over.”

Teachers are irked following the decision of the Bombay High Court (HC) on Thursday which stated all teachers of unaided educational institutions will have to perform poll duties. Krishna Mishra, a senior member of private schools, said, “We are not receiving any grants from the government but the state wants us to perform poll duties. We have been protesting since last three months for due grants but the state has not responded to our demands.”