BHUBANESWAR: Fearing coronavirus spread, school teachers on Wednesday urged the State Government to revamp paper evaluation process of matriculation examination scheduled to resume from May 20 in order to ensure social distancing. They demanded to evaluate the exam papers at home.
Teachers under the aegis of Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA) proposed the School and Mass Education department to allow home evaluation in line with the decision taken by the CBSE to maintain social distancing and check spread of the virus.
General secretary of the association Prakash Chandra Mohanty said around 23,000 teachers will be engaged for evaluation work at 60 centres where maintaining social distance is a major challenge. “Home evaluation will be the most suitable option in this crisis situation,” Mohaty said.
As transportation has been restricted and hotels have been closed, it will be very difficult for the teachers, of whom around 35 to 40 per cent are women, to avail the facilities. If one person is tested positive at any centre, the Government will have to close the centre and put its teachers under home quarantine, he said.
They said in case the Government doesn’t allow home evaluation, it should set up one examination centre for every two blocks to ensure that a teacher doesn’t have to face hurdles for transportation and accommodation. If these reforms are not included, it would be difficult for them to cooperate with the Government in the evaluation duty.