The practical exams will be conducted from February 2 to 12 by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). (Express Photo)
The teacher unions from Punjab Saturday said that the “master cadre teachers” who teach classes 6 to 10, have been appointed as invigilators to conduct practical examinations of Class 12 beginning Monday. The practical exams will be conducted from February 2 to 12 by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).
“A large number of master cadre teachers have been appointed to take practical examinations of class-12 whose job is to teach students of classes 6 to 10. These teachers have no experience of teaching students of class 12. Similarly, many NSQF teachers imparting vocational education for subjects such as “beauty and wellness” have also been assigned to conduct practical examinations of students of other subjects which is irresponsible on PSEB’s part. This is happening due to the vacancy of lecturer posts in Punjab,” said Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) in a statement.
DTF state president Vikramdev Singh said that it was an “unfair decision for both teachers and students.”
“If a teacher does not have any knowledge about the subject for which he has been assigned the duty of conducting practical examinations, then how can he conduct the practical examination efficiently? Many master cadre teachers have been put on duty to take practical exams which they have never studied, let alone taught. Master cadre mathematics teachers are being made to take practical exams of physics, biology and chemistry. The so-called education revolution promoted by the Punjab government has come under scanner,” he said.
He also said that more than 7,000 posts of lecturers teaching various subjects in government schools of Punjab have been lying vacant for a long time. “Instead of filling these posts through promotion and direct recruitment, the Punjab government is continuously harassing the master cadre by imposing extra work on them. On the other hand, the government is playing cheap politics by painting schools in ‘special’ colors for its own publicity. During the last four years of the Punjab government’s tenure, not a single new recruitment of school lecturers has been made,” he added.
The government teachers in Raikot sub-division of Ludhiana district have now been ordered to accompany pilgrims to Amritsar under Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra Yojana.
According to an order issued by Payal Goyal, sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Raikot dated January 30, the BLOs have to prepare polling booth-wise list of all villagers aged above 50 who wish to visit Golden Temple, Durgiana Temple and Jallianwala Bagh and Wagah border. The order further states that there are 188 polling stations in Raikot and the buses for pilgrimage will start operating February 2 onwards. Once the lists of beneficiaries are prepared, the BLOs have to coordinate with the sarpanch of the particular village and have to accompany pilgrims to Amritsar in the bus. One BLO from each village has to accompany the pilgrims to Amritsar, states the order.
A teacher, who has been posted as the BLO in Raikot, said: “Exams are here and we have been ordered to take a pilgrimage to Amritsar. Earlier also we have been put on several odd duties such as flood management, SIR voter list revisions, stubble burning checks etc”.
Contacted, Payal Goyal said: “If any teacher who is posted as BLO has some emergency, we have replacements available. Teachers have been put on this duty only after we got them relieved from their schools”.
Curated by Shiv Shakti Mishra
