Teachers continued to boycott the Plus Two higher secondary Chemistry valuation camps for the second day on Friday in protest against the directive to value answer scripts using an answer scheme that was not the one prepared at a scheme finalisation camp at Ernakulam.
Higher secondary Chemistry teachers alleged lack of clarity in the answer scheme that had been sent to the valuation camps. Evaluating answer scripts using this scheme would hurt the prospects of a large number of students, they said.
Minister’s warning
Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty, however, denied that there were any anomalies in the answer scheme provided by the government. Teachers had stayed away from valuation of answer scripts under a misapprehension, he said, urging them to resume valuation duties.
“Teachers should cooperate, else the government would make its stance clear in the coming days. The Plus Two results will come out on time,” the Minister said.
The Secretary of the Board of Higher Secondary Examinations issued a circular that mentioned a government order of January making valuation duties mandatory. The circular also highlighted a High Court order according to which boycott of valuation duties was a violation of Government Servant’s Rule 86 and Kerala Education Rules Chapter XIVC Rule 58 and contempt of court and subject to disciplinary action.
Teachers’ charge
Teachers, though, were not in a mood to relent despite Mr. Sivankutty’s warnings. They said their primary concern was getting an answer scheme that was free of anomalies so that students got the marks they deserved.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Higher Secondary Teachers’ Association led by chairman R. Arunkumar met Mr. Sivankutty to urge him to intervene to resolve matters. They suggested that a new scheme could be prepared following discussion with teachers who took part in the scheme finalisation.
They communicated to him concerns about students scoring good marks in all subjects except Chemistry, as well as the anomalies in the question paper that necessitated a more liberal scheme. They also called for withdrawal of action against 12 teachers who had prepared the scheme at the Ernakulam camp.
The reason cited by the General Education department for the memos to the teachers was that the scheme prepared by them would result in students getting more marks than they deserved.
“If the department’s reasoning was be accepted, then it is clear they already knew the scheme was ‘liberal.’ So why did they not issue the memos earlier,” pointed out a teacher.
They also questioned why an answer scheme prepared by someone who had set a question paper containing errors should be favoured against that prepared by a group of experienced teachers who were clearly in the students’ corner. “We are not being heard. Also, the Minister is being misinformed,” a teacher said.
