Teachers of the Central Board of Secondary Education-affiliated schools in the city, who are assessing Class 10 and 12 papers at their homes during lockdown, are up in arms as the CBSE board has issued a circular to the schools stipulating that teachers will have to fork out a personal fine of Rs 50,000, if they make a single error in paper correction.
The circular further asks the teachers to be "careful" during paper assessment. Since May 12, teachers of CBSE board schools have been directed to start evaluation work in order to avoid any delay in declaration of results. Answer papers are being delivered in bundles of 200 papers each to the homes of teachers for assessment. They are given seven days to complete assessment of these answer papers.
However, teachers of CBSE schools said that on May 11, the board issued another circular to their respective schools stating, ''The teacher will be asked to pay a personal fine of Rs 50,000 if there is a single mistake in paper assessment.''
A principal of a Navi Mumbai-based CBSE board school, on request of anonymity, said, "I was appalled and taken aback when I read the circular. It is completely bizarre and unfair to impose such an exorbitant fine." Teachers said this was the first time they had received such a direction.
A teacher from Podar CBSE board school, Santacruz, said, "What is this fine of Rs 50,000? The board cannot impose such a hefty amount. Usually, we have to pay a minimal fine if we make errors in paper correction. This is unfair and we are now scared of assessing papers." Despite repeated attempts, CBSE's Public Relations Officer was unavailable for comment.
Authorities of the CBSE board schools, however, confirmed the fine was being imposed so that teachers are careful and do not make any mistakes.
A principal of a CBSE board school, who did not wish to be named, said, "Normally, we have coordinators and head supervisors who check for errors in paper assessment. But during lockdown, there is no medium or time to check for errors."
Deepshikha Srivastava, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya CBSE school at Andheri, said, "Teachers need to be careful in paper assessment as it affects the future of a child. We have delivered answer paper bundles to homes of teachers."
