Teachers’ union calls for boycott of assessment centres today

The Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU) has called for intensified protests, with a day-long boycott of all exam paper assessment centres across the University of Mumbai on Wednesday.

The Bombay University and College Teachers’ Union (BUCTU) has called for intensified protests, with a day-long boycott of all exam paper assessment centres across the University of Mumbai on Wednesday.

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After talks with the state government reached an impasse, the teachers’ union issued another call to teachers to stop exam paper corrections. Teachers claim the university has threatened them with dire action if they fail to report for correction.

The Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (MFUCTO) has been demanding that the government pay sixth pay commission scale salary arrears and regularise the appointments and promotions of thousands of teachers exempt from National Eligibility Test (NET) and State Eligibility Test (SET) rules, which came into effect from 2000.

“We have called for a complete shutdown at all centres,” said Madhu Paranjape, general secretary of BUCTU. “No one will go to centres on Wednesday. “The minister should immediately hold negotiations with MFUCTO in the interest of students, teachers and general society,” said Tapati Mukhopadhyay, general secretary of MFUCTO.

The university, however, said paper corrections were going on smoothly and 80% of the total, or more than 6.5 lakh papers, had been assessed so far. On Monday, the university also said results for more than 100 courses out of 600-odd offered by the university had been declared.

“Teachers have been coming in very good numbers to centres,” said Naresh Chandra, pro vice chancellor of the university. He denied the MFUCTO allegation that under-qualified teachers had been recruited for corrections.