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With the country going into a 21-day lockdown, teachers from schools across the state have requested the education department to cancel the last paper of SSC (Class10)

With the country going into a 21-day lockdown, teachers from schools across the state have requested the education department to cancel the last paper of SSC (Class10) which has been postponed.

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On Saturday, state education minister Varsha Gaikwad announced that the Geography paper, the last of the Class 10 exams in the state, would be postponed and a new date would be declared after March 31. The paper was earlier scheduled to be held on March 23.

With the nationwide lockdown coming into effect, teachers said it would be better if the board cancels the paper and scores students as per the other five papers. “It is an unprecedented situation and we don’t know how long it would take for things to get back to normal. In such circumstances, it would be better if the board cancels the paper as it would help release pressure off the students,” said Sandeep Shinde a teacher from a school in Malad.

Officials from the board, however, said they had not received any official communication from the government regarding the issue. “Currently, the entire focus is on ensuring that everyone stays safe. We will see if the government takes any such decision,” said a senior official.

Currently, the board has a ‘best of five’ method, wherein the student’s final score is calculated after considering marks of the five best-scoring subjects out of six. Teachers have said that similarly, scores can be calculated based on the five papers that have been conducted already.

Additionally, teachers are facing hurdles in evaluating answer sheets of other papers despite the board allowing examiners to take the answer sheets home. “There is no transport available and many of our teachers stay far. Not everyone can come and collect papers,” said the principal of a school in Dadar.