Paper evaluation: Teachers worried about their travel

A few days after the state education department allowed teachers in the state to travel for SSC (Class 10) paper evaluation duties, many teachers have raised concerns

A few days after the state education department allowed teachers in the state to travel for SSC (Class 10) paper evaluation duties, many teachers have raised concerns over the decision.

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Teachers said there is a lot of risk involved in travelling, especially in areas demarcated as red zones. “Many teachers stay far away from their schools and might have to make two or three trips to the school to collect papers and to transport them back which will put them in risk. In such a situation, the government needs to increase the evaluation period to give more flexibility to teachers,” said Anil Bornare, coordinator of the BJP teachers’ front, which wrote to the department on May 8.

Uday Nare, teacher at Hansraj Morarji Public School in Andheri, said, “Some window should be given at least for areas in red zones as the situation is worse in some places than others.”

The Mumbai Divisional Board, which also consists of Thane, Raigad and Palghar, started issuing letters permitting teachers to travel from May 8.

With the Supreme Court’s mandate that the board should declare results by June 10, the board has decided to try and finish evaluating and moderating answer sheets. The state board normally declares Class 12 results in the last week of May and Class 10 results by the second week of June.

“We have spoken to concerned officials at the local level to facilitate travel for teachers. The idea is to finish as much pending work as possible so that results are not delayed. All precautions with respect to safety and social distancing should be followed in the process,” said Sandeep Sangave, secretary , Mumbai Divisional Board.