Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has criticised the boycott of Plus Two higher secondary Chemistry answer script valuation by a section of teachers in May.
The boycott of valuation camp by teachers without any notice was an attempt to sabotage the publication of results, the Minister said, adding that this was unacceptable. Strict action would be taken against those who boycotted the valuation.
Mr. Sivankutty said the department had not come to the conclusion that the first answer key was incorrect. A 15-member committee of teachers had prepared a new answer key for Chemistry only because complaints had been raised.
General Education Principal Secretary A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish said a comprehensive inquiry was ordered in connection with the valuation camp issue in May. Now that the results had been announced, the inquiry was under way to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
Asked about failure to take action against the teacher who prepared the question paper and the answer key, Mr. Hanish said the inquiry would look into all aspects of the answer keys, and action would be taken on its basis.
Scheme finalisation
On teachers’ organisations raising allegations that seniority was being ignored while selecting teachers for scheme finalisation for Plus One subjects, Director of General Education (DGE) Jeevan Babu K. said such complaints, if any, would be looked into.
About availability of Plus One seats, Mr. Sivankutty said no student eligible for higher education would be denied the opportunity for the same. Last year too, the government had ensured Plus One seats to 4.2 lakh students, though the initial seats tally came to 3.61 lakh. Marginal seat increase in seven districts and new batches had been sanctioned to ensure sufficient Plus One seats.
