A state government circular making 100% attendance mandatory for teaching and non-teaching staff while exams are being held, has left teachers residing in Navi Mumbai shocked. The notice requires them to be on campus for holding exams for professional and non-professional courses from October 1 .
They say it will be difficult for them to reach the campus on time as transportation is not available adequately.
After Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari approved the state government’s plans to allow students to appear for final-year exams for professional and non-professional courses from home, the Higher and Technical Education Department (HTED) had issued a circular on Friday making it mandatory for 100% of the teaching and non-teaching staff to be present on the campus for exam preparation and evaluation till October 31.
Sampurna Mehta, a senior faculty at a professional college in Worli says that he has already been asked to prepare a question bank of 250 questions which will be asked in the examination.
“There is no clarity on why a 250 question bank, when the examination will be held of only 50 questions of multiple choice,” said Mehta. He added that even after the exam, all teaching and non-teaching staff will have to be on the campus for the evaluation and other clerical works. “We are not allowed to use the train as it is only for essential services. Reaching Worli from Nerul will be a challenge every day," said Mehta.
Similarly, Lata Pawar, a faculty at a Management college in Andheri says that she cannot afford a cab to reach the campus. “At present, once a week I have to visit the campus for some paper work. I go by a cab that costs around Rs 700 to 900. I cannot afford to go every day in a cab,” said Pawar.
Many teachers who work on a contract also say that their salary has been slashed by around 50% and that they are not in a position to go to the campus by cab. “Even if the state government allows us to travel by train, there is a frequency issue for local trains. We will be also face the treat of being infected by the virus,” said a clerical staffer of Mumbai University, requested anonymity.
