ROURKELA: Government school headmasters and teachers in Sundargarh district are in a fix after they have reportedly been asked by their respective District Education Officers (DEOs) and District Welfare Officers (DWOs) to upload Pre-Matric Scholarship (PMS) applications of ST, SC and OBC students of Class IX and X for 2021-22 directly on the Odisha State Scholarship Portal (OSSP) of Odisha State Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) by May 25.
Apart from increasing the load on the teachers, the work is likely to affect teaching in schools. The ST & SC Development (SSD) department on May 5 issued a letter to all DEOs and DWOs asking them to directly upload the PMS applications of ST, SC and OBC students of Class IX and X on the OSSP by May 25. The applications should accompany scanned copies of Aadhaar, income, residence and caste proofs, they further instructed.
Sources said, the work of uploading the scholarship requirements are normally done by Data Entry Operators at block-level Welfare Extension Offices with assistance of respective school headmasters/headmistresses (HMs). But, since the data entry people are less and completion of work within a short period is difficult, the responsibilities have allegedly been attached to the school HMs.
School authorities said, all relevant information of PMS was supplied to the SSD department in Excel sheets earlier but now again they are being asked to upload the same on the portal. With no option, the HMs are taking help of teachers and devoting extra hours to complete the formalities.
A headmaster, on condition of anonymity, said, teachers are being forced to spend time to do these works which is affecting teaching. DWO office sources said 34,000 ST, SC and OBC students of Class IX and X in Sundargarh are eligible for PMS.