Junior college teachers from across Maharashtra on Monday threatened to boycott the supervision and evaluation duties for the Class 12 exams, which are scheduled to commence on February 21. The teachers said they would be compelled to take the step, as the government has failed to address their long-pending demands.

The announcement to boycott the exam duties was made by the Maharashtra State Federation of Junior College Teachers’ Organisation (MSFJCTO), which is the biggest association of junior colleges teachers in the state claiming to have over 75,000 teachers under it.

Some of their demands include the regularisation of teaching posts in colleges, the timely increments to teachers who have completed 25 years of service, fixing the errors in the calculations made under the 7th Pay Commission, among others.

“At a meeting held on January 31, the state education minister (Vinod Tawde) assured action and promised to take up our issues with the finance ministry. However, nothing has happened ever since. Teachers conducted the practical and oral exams, hoping that the state would act. But now that there is no development on the issue, we will be compelled to boycott the supervision and paper evaluation duties”, said Anil Deshmukh, president, MSFJCTO.

In March 2018, the union had boycotted paper evaluation duties of Class 12 board exams, asking the education department to address their demands with immediate effect. While the strike was later withdrawn after the state promised the teachers to look into the issues, Deshmukh said that the government has failed to bring their promises into action, as a result of which teachers have now decided to go on a strike again.

“We do not want students to suffer, but the government needs act and address our issues,” Deshmukh added.

Despite the boycott to exam duties in 2017 and 2018, teachers had completed their evaluations in time, as the strike was called off at the last minute. The results of Class 12 exams were thus announced in time, despite the protests during the boards.

This year, around 15 lakh students from the state will appear for the Class 12 board examinations, which will commence on Thursday and end on March 20.

First Published: Feb 19, 2019 15:56 IST