Even as the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations are still on, the Karnataka State High School Assistant Masters' Association has decided to boycott evaluation, due to begin on April 22, in protest against disparity in pay scales.
Pre-university teachers have already threatened to boycott evaluation on the ground of wage disparity. They will stage a dharna at Freedom Park here on Sunday.
The high school teachers' association has said in a release that a unanimous decision was taken at the general body meeting on Saturday to boycott evaluation as the “last resort” since their demand to fix scales on a par with police sub-inspectors and technical college teachers had “fallen on deaf ears”.
H.K. Manjunath, president of the association, said that they had been submitting petitions and peacefully demonstrating for setting right the “anomalies in wages”, but to no avail.
“We will be forced to boycott evaluation since peaceful means are not paid heed to,” he said. “The Sixth Pay Commission too has not been able to give us justice.”
As many as 20,000 teachers in about 2,000 centres are to begin evaluating SSLC papers throughout Karnataka from April 22.
When contacted, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri said he would hold talks with the teachers and “ensure that evaluation is conducted smoothly”.
