The Tamil Nadu Post-Graduate Teachers Association has said its members would boycott the evaluation of Plus One examination papers this year.
K.P.O. Suresh, State president of the association, said the schedule for the evaluation of SSLC, Class 12 and Class 11 papers extended till May 19, which would leave them with less than two weeks of vacation.
“Since the Directorate of Government Examinations has drawn up a schedule to accommodate the evaluation of three Board examinations, it has extended the work till May 19. Teachers will be forced to work in peak summer and will not get a proper break before the schools re-open in June,” Mr. Suresh said.
For Classes 11 and 12, the evaluation of language papers alone takes up to two weeks and all other subjects take a week. In a petition to the School Education Department, the teachers association had asked for the evaluation of language papers to begin as soon as students finished those exams in mid-March. “For the last few years, we have been forced to wait till all the exams get over to begin evaluation and, with the addition of the Class 11 Boards, this has extended well into the middle of May,” said R. Perumalsamy, Chennai district president of the association.
Refresher course
This year, teachers had to take classes for NEET coaching every weekend after the Board exams. “Following this, many of us have been asked to attend a refresher course to be conducted by the School Education Department to get ourselves acquainted with the new syllabus being implemented from the coming academic year,” he said.
The members of the association said that while they have approached the School Education Department and submitted their petition, they have been told that the schedule had already been fixed. “While we are ready to take on additional responsibilities, we need a proper break,” Mr. Suresh said.
The association has also additionally suggested that the Class 11 evaluation could be carried out in June.
