Maharashtra: HSC results may get delayed as teachers refuse to submit corrected answer sheets

Mumbai: Teachers of junior colleges involved in assessment of Class 12 board examination have refused to submit corrected answer papers for moderation which may delay declaration of results. Teachers claimed they will not submit the answer papers of Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination unless their demands are fulfilled by the state government.

Around 72,000 teachers under Maharashtra Junior College Teachers Union (MJCTU) have decided not to submit corrected answer sheets to the state board. Teachers claimed they have repeatedly placed their demands before the state education ministry but have not been able to meet the finance department.

Large number of teachers have not received their salary since last two years. The other demands include issuing the new list of unaided colleges which are now eligible for aid, orders to fill up 171 new teaching posts and approval of appointment of teachers who were recruited in 2012.

MJCTU revealed the state has issued a list of 146 colleges eligible for aid but there are a total of 1,350 such colleges and no list was released after that. Rajendra Shinde, senior member of MJCTU, said, “The state should declare the list involving all colleges as the original number is more than what they have disclosed. Teachers have been working without salary and the state expects us to fulfill our duties without even considering our financial help.”

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Teachers from different regions of the state like Mumbai, Nashik, Pune Amaravati, Konkan and others met Vinod Tawde, state education minister for school and higher secondary education last month. “We were assured by Tawde that a meeting would be setup with the Finance department as our demands involve salary issues. But no meeting has been held with the finance department. We have now been given a date of April 17 for the next meeting,” Shinde added.

Around 80 lakh answer papers have been assessed by teachers. If teachers do not submit assessed papers to the state board it will affect declaration of results.  A teacher said, “We care for our students which is why we have assessed the answer papers. We do not want to disrupt the future of any student. But the state government cannot take us for granted and expect us to work by depriving our right to be paid. We want to draw the attention of the education ministry to the seriousness of the issue and the importance of a teacher.”

These teachers had earlier decided to boycott assessment of answer papers and staged a protest at Azad Maidan last month. The teacher added, “We will continue to evaluate answer papers because we are concerned about students but we will not submit it to the board if the government does not cater to our demands.”