Hundreds of teachers under the banner of the Odisha School College Teachers’ and Employees’ United Forum on Monday staged demonstrations in front of the evaluation centres across the State threatening to boycott the evaluation of High School Certificate (HSC) examination answer papers.
The teachers alleged inordinate delay by the Government in publishing a notification on withdrawal of the compulsory affidavit clause for them to avail grant-in-aid.
The teachers’ body also requested other teachers, who are to arrive in the evaluation centres to join their duty on the day, to skip the evaluation process scheduled to begin from Tuesday.
“Earlier we had put our strike on hold after the State Government assured us that it will look into our grievances by March 9. But nothing tangible has been done yet. Therefore, we have started this agitation and have decided not to participate in evaluation of HSC answer sheets. We are also requesting the teachers who are arriving at the evaluation centres not to cooperate with the Government,” said Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA) general secretary Prakash Mohanty.
Speaking to reporters, School and Mass Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra requested the teachers to withdraw their dharna and cooperate in the evaluation process. Otherwise, the State Government has made alternative arrangements for smooth conduct of the evaluation process. He assured that results would be published in time.
The Board of Secondary Education authorities also echoed similar views.
BSE Examination Controller Nihar Ranjan Mohanty said the evaluation of Matriculation examination answer papers will begin as scheduled from Tuesday.
"Notwithstanding the ongoing strike by some teachers, the evaluation of papers shall begin from Tuesday," said Mohanty.
He said the BSE has requisitioned the services of 13,200 teachers to evaluate the papers at 56 evaluation centres. like every year, the BSE also has prepared a list of reserved teachers taking them from other recognised schools for any exigencies.
"Since only about 4,000 teachers of our requisitioned teachers are on strike, we will replace them from our reserved list to join the exercise of evaluation at a short notice", Mohanty said adding that their reserved list has more teachers than the requisitioned list.