Balasore, May 3: As many as 90 high school teachers of Mayurbhanj district have been placed under suspension for negligence of duty during evaluation of answer sheets for the matriculation examinations.

Mayurbhanj circle inspector of schools Uday Majhi initiated the disciplinary action following his surprise visits to three evaluation centres in the Karanjia, Rairangpur and Baripada educational districts area in the last two days.

The suspended teachers belonged to different government schools. Eighty-seven teachers belonged to general schools, while the remaining three were from schools run by the ST and SC development department. The teachers were found absent at the evaluation centres without permission from the concerned authorities. This year, the government has decided to take up the evaluation process to ensure timely publication of results and stringent action against the absent teachers as the matric examination was postponed by more than 10 days following theft of question papers.

“I found several teachers absent at the evaluation centres. They had also not informed the authorities about their absence,” said Majhi. The circle inspector also sought explanation from the three teachers, who were caught using cell phones during checking of the answer sheets.

In a related development, several high school teachers have complained of loadshedding at the evaluation centres. They alleged that no alternative measures had been taken to address the problem.

“Power cut has become a daily affair. A teacher is given 20 to 22 answer sheets to check a day. They can easily check the papers during daytime. However, I have asked the centre supervisors to arrange alternative sources of power,” said Majhi.

The evaluation process began from April 30 and a target has been set to complete the process within two weeks.