Goa: Teachers threaten protest if their health is not protected

PANAJI: Teachers engaged by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education on Saturday threatened to protest if the board did not take precautionary measures to safeguard their health.
While regular classes across educational institutions in Goa have been suspended from March 16-31, examinations, including the ongoing Class XII test, will continue as scheduled. Officials of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, however, said there were presently no plans to disinfect exam halls. “The directorate of education has already issued instructions on precautions to be taken by all students,” an official said.
Teachers who are engaged as conductors, invigilators and paper correctors by the Goa Board were upset that no protective gear like masks and disinfectants were being provided to them during the Class XII board examination.
“In Goa, we have students from all over. We do not know their travel history or who they have come in contact with,” one teacher said.
Directives from the state’s education department regarding suspension of regular classes also caused confusion among teachers and other staff, who were unsure if they were required to report to schools. A subsequent clarification issued by the directorate of higher education stated that teachers and administrative staff would have to attend to their duties.
Teachers also said that, in effect, the closure of regular classes did not apply to them as most state institutions presently have their exams going on, for which they would have to be present. They also said that they would later be required for other academic work such as correction of internal examination papers and preparation of the final results of students.
“In the 60 schools run by the Diocesan Society of Education, exams will be held simultaneously from around March 23-30. The directives apply only up to March 31. It means we will get relief only for a few days. We will have to attend school during the rest of the days, first to conduct the exams and later to attend to academic work, which is to prepare the results,” a teacher from Panaji said.
Some private schools like Sharda Mandir in Miramar had already decided to suspend classes before the government’s announcement.