SSLC evaluators exempt from lockdown

BENGALURU: The Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) board exam results are not likely to be too delayed, with the Karnataka government reversing its earlier decision on evaluation of board papers during the week-long lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural. Teachers will now be allowed to join in the evaluation. 

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Suresh Kumar had on July 12 said that all but these two districts would hold evaluations from July 14 to 22. The lockdown went into effect, but just two days later, Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar exempted SSLC evaluation from the restrictions. The department arranged buses for teachers to reach their centres, yet, the lack of transport remained a major problem, leading to poor turnout.

SSLC director Sumangala, however, maintained silence on how many evaluators actually turned up across the state, especially in Bengaluru Urban and Rural. A top official claimed that up to 80% teachers were present, however, other sources said not more than 50-60% attended the evaluation. 
While this casts uncertainty over how long it will take teachers to complete the evaluation process,

Karnataka State High School Assistant Teachers’ Association president H K Manjunath was fairly confident that it would not take more than 10-12 days, which is the usual time taken for evaluation.
Manjunath was satisfied with the government’s arrangements for evaluators in the state, and agreed that there were some problems in Bengaluru city and rural areas, where evaluation was not being allowed. The two regions, he said, have an estimated evaluation staff of 6,000.

He said the additional 10,000 teachers the State has commissioned as evaluators in various districts, have helped speed up the evaluation process. These have substituted those teachers who were exempt from being part of evaluation due to age, etc. At least 50% evaluation was complete in many districts, he said.

Teachers can work from home till July 31 
Bengaluru: As the number of Covid-19 cases continue to increase in the State, the Department of Higher Education, MHRD, has directed teachers to work from home till July 31. The State government has said this was applicable to all teachers, non-teaching staffers and researchers among others, except for those evaluating SSLC answer scripts and deployed for Covid-19 duties. The school managements have to collect the contact details and e-mail IDs from teachers. Teachers told TNIE that earlier, despite the MHRD’s directive, both SSLC and CBSE schools were asking them to come to work putting them and their families at risk, since some of their peers were from high risk areas.

Students to get 50% rebate on exam fee
Bengaluru: As the mid-term semester exams have been called off, graduate, postgraduate and diploma students will get a 50 per cent rebate on the the next semester’s exam fee, Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said on Wednesday. As a few universities had already collected the exam fee, students had been demanding a refund. Responding to this, the minister said as this wasn’t possible, the government decided to offer a 50 per cent rebate on the next exam.