Post-Graduate teachers handling science subjects in government schools in Tiruchi district lament that they find themselves in a peculiar situation of having to handle three to four batches of students for practical examinations that are under way for Plus One and Plus Two students.
For every teacher, handling two batches - one each in the morning and afternoon sessions of three-hour durations - has been a norm.
The teachers complain they spend close to 12 hours in the schools from 8 a.m. onwards for handling three to four batches.
“We have been instructed to conduct the practicals in two-hour sessions, so as to accommodate more batches of students. This is unfair for the students,” a headmaster of a school in a rural location, who did not wish to be identified, said.
Ideally, the number of laboratories ought to have been increased in proportion to the number of students, to ensure three-hour duration of practical session for every batch. The private schools have been able to do this and hence, there was no level playing field. The worst sufferers would be the top-performers in the government higher secondary schools who entirely pin their hopes on meritorious performance for admission into prestigious institutions, another headmaster said with a sense of frustration.
There has been an apparent lapse in planning too. The number of days for the practicals got restricted due to wastage of substantial time for planning. At least three additional days could have been utilised for conduct of the practical exams had the planning been made beforehand, teachers pointed out. The students in government schools must be a worried lot as there would be apprehensions about the mindset of the teachers valuing their papers. “It is unreasonable for the administrators to expect a teacher to evaluate more than 60 papers - 30 each for two batches. A workload beyond that is bound to cause a dent in the efficacy of evaluation”, a senior teacher sought to explain.