The Council of Higher Secondary Education building in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: The Council of Higher Secondary Education has sought the state government’s help after failing to find sufficient teachers for re-evaluation of the Plus Two answer scripts.

Secretary of the council Tushar Kanti Tripathy said around 15,000 students, who were dissatisfied with the marks awarded to them in various subjects in Plus Two exams this year, had applied for re-addition and re-evaluation.

Though the officials had sought the services of around 50 teachers to scrutinise the papers, they have received no more than 10 positive responses.

“On an average, each student has applied for re-checking of their answer papers in three subjects. This means there are close to 45,000 papers to be evaluated. However, the teachers we approached are not eager to render their services because the academic session is on in full swing now. We do not want the rechecking process to be delayed and have written to the higher education authorities to intervene so that students do not suffer,” said Tripathy.

Another reason for teachers turning down the council’s request could be the paltry remuneration, said sources.

“They are paid Rs 3 for re-addition of an answer script and Rs 5 for scrutinising it again. Besides that, they are entitled to a daily allowance of Rs 50. The examiners are not happy with the payment and have long been demanding that the amount be hiked to Rs 10 per paper,” said an official.

This year, around 2.9 lakh students had taken the higher secondary board exams. Of them, 15,000-odd students applied for re-checking, the last date for which was July 6. The council charges Rs 100 per paper for re-addition and another Rs 100 for photocopy of a single answer-sheet.

Sources said the council collected an estimated Rs 14 crore from students as fees for the Plus Two exams and spent around Rs 4 crore on evaluation. The council saved between Rs 1 crore and Rs 1.5 crore a year. This amount is spent on employees’ salaries and its other costs.

“The amount plunged this year because we had to conduct re-examination of physics and chemistry papers following the question leak,” said an official.

Academics have reacted sharply to the teachers’ refusal to re-evaluate answer papers.

“The state government must take a serious view of this. Principals of all colleges must be instructed to relieve their teachers for exam duty so that students are not inconvenienced. Teachers also should not complain about the remuneration because they are paid good salaries,” said vice-chancellor of Sambalpur University B.C. Barik.