HSC answersheets awaiting evaluation

Nagpur: Over three lakh HSC answersheets of English and Hindi subjects in Nagpur division have piled up as teachers have boycotted the evaluation process.
On Friday morning, moderators from all six districts of Nagpur division had been called to the board office to collect the evaluation instruction sheet, referred to as docket, but all of them refused to accept it. Under the banner of Vidarbha Junior College Teachers Association (VJUCTA), the teachers here have lent their support to a statewide call for evaluation boycott to protest against the government.

Ashok Gavhankar, general secretary of VJUCTA, said, “Not even a single moderator today collected the dockets from board office, even though they reported here as per the directives. Our unity is stronger than ever and till the government issues a circular confirming fulfilment of our various demands, we will not budge.”

There are around two dozen demands of junior college teachers, important ones being related to salary and pension. Gavhankar added, “The government’s strategy each year has been to stall us right till the end and then offer some verbal assurances just to get us to evaluate the papers. But this time, we are not going to back down at all.”

Board officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they have forwarded the demands of VJUCTA to their headquarters. “All decisions will have to be taken at the HQ level because this is a statewide issue. Regardless, we have requested VJUCTA to reconsider their decision,” an official said.

With every exam day, the pending answersheets will keep piling up and may prove to be a logistical headache for custodians, the people responsible for its safekeeping. Custodians are basically schools that are strategically located keeping geographical locations of centres in their catchment area. There are 77 custodians in Nagpur division.

While it is not uncommon for VJUCTA to call for boycott at the start of board exams each year, they claim this time it will be different. “Every time we consider because the government makes strong promises but we have now realized that it’s all unreliable. Now we will not settle for anything less that an official government resolution stating clearly that our demands have been fulfilled,” said Gavhankar.

Teachers who were part of the protest at the divisional board office in Civil Lines today also blamed the government for playing with HSC student’s future. “The government is holding students to ransom just to spite us. The results may get delayed by the government seems least bothered,” said a teacher.