SSC paper correction: A challenge during lockdown

When the state entered its first lockdown on March 23 owing to rising Covid-19 cases, the Mumbai divisional board, which includes Thane, Raigad and Palghar, had

When the state entered its first lockdown on March 23 owing to rising Covid-19 cases, the Mumbai divisional board, which includes Thane, Raigad and Palghar, had lakhs of SSC answersheets in schools and custodies (where papers from a few centres are collected) of the board.

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The last paper for SSC was on March 21 (history). When the lockdown was announced, most answersheets for the paper were still lying across 68 custodies in the division, yet to be sent to the schools for assessment. In the days to come, officials at the divisional board, with the help of its support staff and schools, ensured evaluation was done, even with the restrictions. A total of 50 lakh answersheets were corrected and moderated in Mumbai division this year.

Keeping in mind the challenges, the divisional board made several changes to make the process easy. First, it took feedback from all teachers on Google forms to understand how much work was pending. Along with this, it asked custodies to transport history answersheets to respective schools and gave them the travel allowance required for the purpose. Answersheets of other subjects were lying either in schools or with the teachers in their homes. “A teacher from our school had gone to Talasari when the lockdown was announced. He came all the way to the school and collected his papers without any delay,” said Sudam Kumbhar, former principal of Shailendra High School in Dahisar.

“On May 8, we authorised teachers to travel to collect papers from their schools and submit them to the moderators, depending on what stage they were at. This stage, however, was very challenging,” said Sandeep Sangave, secretary, Mumbai divisional board.

While a few teachers had tested positive for Covid-19, some others lived in places where travelling was not an option. “We waited for a few days and then sent our staff to get papers from them. Sometimes, our staff had to travel to the interiors to collect papers from a single teacher. In Raigad, for instance, we did that for a teacher who could not come to her school,” he said.

At the board’s divisional office in Vashi, staff was being picked up and dropped and worked at 5% capacity. The board also allowed provisional online verification of documents to grant bonus marks for sports and other categories. By the end of June, the office had received all answersheets. “We trusted our staff and schools and they delivered,” said Sangave.