No leave, no facilities: Tough task for MP board exam evaluators

Teachers evaluating the Madhya Pradesh board examination papers complain of working without any leave and with lack of basic facilities such as electricity and drinking water at the centres.

The department could manage to get 600 teachers to check 5 lakh copies, and the Hindi-speaking state of Madhya Pradesh faces severe shortage of Hindi and Sanskrit evaluators.

Sources said all papers, except Hindi and Sanskrit, would be checked by April 20.

To meet the deadline, the teachers are made to work without any leave. The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) has imposed the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) until the board examination evaluation work is over.

But, there’s no reward for the teachers who get Rs11 for Class 10 and Rs12 for Class 12 per copy. They have to check at least 45 copies a day.

And if there’s any discrepancy found in the copy, some amount is deducted from the payment of evaluators.

“Evaluators are finding it difficult to work with such meagre amount and with no leaves. At several centres, they do not even get basic facilities such as drinking water, electricity and fans,” said secretary general, MP Shikshak Congress, Ashutosh Pandey.

Some are coming from far-off places are not getting conveyance allowance, Pandey said.

Board examination observer Avinash Kumar said Hoshangabad, Dindori, Raisen and Betul are some of the centres where evaluators face a lot of inconveniences.

Kumar said the pressure on teachers get reflected on the work.

“It’s a human tendency. If one is forced to work in adverse condition, then the output cannot be great. Their mental stress and fatigue affect the way they check papers,” he said.

MPBSE public relations officer SK Chourasia said the evaluators get paid for their services and the payment they get for checking copies is in addition to their salaries.