A section of higher secondary teachers have come out against a change in practical examination dates twice to allow the conduct of a one-day cluster-level training in continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) for them on February 8.
Timetable for the practical examinations have already been published by schools and arrangements made, and changing the schedule at this stage can be inconvenient, they say.
The higher secondary practical examinations got under way on February 1 and will continue till February 23.
Teachers allege the cluster-level training was first scheduled for February 10 and then advanced to February 8. This meant that they had to rearrange the timetable twice, not an easy matter when they had to consider the schedule of the external teacher coming to a school for the practicals, especially if the external expert were going to two or three schools for the examinations. Similarly, teachers on internal duty in a school would also have external duty elsewhere. Moreover, examinations in subjects such as computer science, computer applications, mathematics, and accountancy remained to be conducted in computer labs.
Cluster trainings such as these should be held prior to or after the practical examinations, they say, claiming they have already started entering the continuous evaluation marks.
Higher secondary officials say the date of Febuary 10 had been approved by the Minister for General Education but then some teachers’ organisations approached the Director of General Education seeking a change in dates owing to their conferences, the date was preponed to February 8.
It was a practice to avoid practical examinations on the day cluster training was scheduled. In this instance, the examinations scheduled for February 8 could be held on February 10 without much inconvenience, especially as adequate notice had been given. The training was important since teachers would set out for the CCE after that, with one teacher covering two or three schools a day, they say.
