Lens on teachers for using mobile flash-lights to check exam papers

Bhubaneswar: Around 50 teachers are in the dock for using their mobile phone flash-lights to evaluate plus two answer sheets during a power outage at MPC Autonomous College in Baripada on Tuesday.
The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) on Wednesday sought an explanation from the centre superintendent and ordered re-checking of the answer sheets since mobile phones are not allowed into offline evaluation centres as per guidelines.
The council sprang into action after a video showing teachers checking the answer sheets under the glare of the flash-lights went viral on social media and was reported in local TV channels.
“We have sought an explanation from the teachers for checking answer sheets with the help of mobile phone flash-lights. If there was darkness in the room, they should have stopped the work or waited till alternative arrangements were made,” deputy controller of examination at CHSE, Prasant Kumar Dash, said.
He said the teachers re-checked all the answer sheets on Wednesday. “Action will be taken against them after we get the report from the centre superintendent,” Dash added.
Sources said, around 2.30 in the afternoon, rain and thundershowers led to power cut in Baripada town. Since there was no alternative arrangement for power, the teachers used the flash-light on their mobile phones to evaluate the answer sheets and later posted the photographs online.
“The teachers wanted to show that they continued their work in adverse condition. Unlike restriction on carrying mobile phones inside examination halls, there was no such restriction for evaluation centres,” principal of MPC Autonomous College, Durga Charan Patra, said.
Asked about power back-up at the evaluation centre, Dash said, “We had made arrangements for power back-up in all evaluation centres. In Baripada, the hall we used for evaluation was taken from us on Monday to make it ready for counting votes. So the teachers had to shift to another building where there was no generator.”
In the wake of delay in publication of plus two results, the video has sparked outrage from parents.