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Strike by non-teaching staff won’t affect board exams in Pune: Patil
The association members have declared that they won’t work during the forthcoming Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations
Even though the non-teaching staff has called a protest, board exams that are set for February and March this year won’t be affected, according to minister of higher education Chandrakant Patil.
To press their various demands including that of Old Pension Scheme (OPS), members of the Maharashtra State Secondary School Non-teaching Staff Association staged a protest march on Monday starting from Shaniwarwada to state education director’s office.
The association members have declared that they won’t work during the forthcoming Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations.
Reacting to protest, Patil said, “While we are sympathetic to the demands by the staff, we will make sure it won’t affect the examination of HSC and SSC.”
The protesters however are adamant about going ahead with the strike.
“One of the major demands is to get increments at regular stages of 10, 20 and 30 years of service. Also, we are facing staff shortage across the state, so the vacancies should be filled soon,” said Shivaji Khandekar, secretary of the association.
Meanwhile, the decision taken by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE), to discontinue the practice of question paper distribution before 10 minutes during forthcoming Class 10 and 12 board examinations, has been hailed by teachers.
The decision was taken as last year’s question paper went on viral on social media before the actual scheduled time and students who entered late into the exam hall benefited from it.
“Last year the question paper had gone viral on social media before the actual paper timing, so the practice of giving out paper 10 minutes before the actual scheduled time will now be discontinued from this year,” said Anuradha Oak, secretary of the state board.
So now students will get their question paper exactly at 11 am for the morning session paper and at 3 pm for the afternoon session paper. Whereas students need to report at the examination hall 30 minutes before the scheduled time.
