In view of board examination, the education department has issued a moratorium on the strike of the teachers. The examinations of Uttarakhand Vidhyalayi Shikha Parishad (UVSP) popularly called as Uttarakhand board are scheduled to start from March 17. The education department has invoked the provisions of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to preempt any attempt by powerful teachers’ organizations to give any strike call. The period of the ESMA would be for six months. The additional Chief Secretary Dr Ranvir Singh released the orders of ESMA after getting the approval of state governor. Apart from teachers the ESMA in this period would also be applicable on the employees of the UVSP also. Singh in his order has also asked the district food and supply officers to make arrangements for kerosene for examination centres.
The examinations of the UVSP would start on March 17 and the last examination is on April 10. In the board examination more than 22000 teachers are required by the UVSP for invigilation duties. After the examinations the teachers are also deployed in evaluation of answer sheets of the students. It is a common observation that the teacher organization choose this time of the year to agitate for their demands as board examinations and the subsequent assessment of answer sheets is one of an important task. There are more than 75000 teachers in the education department of the state.