Bhubaneswar, April 19: The evaluation process for the annual High School Certificate examination (HSC) has started and teachers across the state are as busy as ever. However, most of them are dissatisfied with the amount of remuneration they are getting for evaluation duty.

Nearly 18,200 teachers have been appointed to evaluate the answer sheets in 70 centres across the state, except for Malkangiri district. To ensure error-free evaluation, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE)-Orissa, which conducts the annual examination in the state, has put in place, a three-tier system with a chief examiner, 18 assistants and three deputy chief examiners, at every centre. While teachers with a minimum experience of 10 years have been appointed as examiners, those with over 25 years of teaching experience have been made chief examiners to oversee the answer scripts before being sent for the final tabulation. The teachers are expected to check about 20 scripts everyday. Besides being paid Rs 5 for every answer script, each is entitled to a daily allowance of Rs 70. However, some of these “examiners” have expressed dissatisfaction regarding the “inadequate” payment.

“It is summer and we have to toil for eight to 10 hours everyday. As per the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendations, the daily allowance has been hiked to Rs 140, but we are getting half of what we deserve,” said Prakash Mohanty, an assistant examiner.

A colleague of Mohanty, who spoke to The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity, said: “We are absolutely not happy with the payment. A person with 10 years of experience is being paid the same amount as someone like me who has a teaching experience of more than 35 years. This is very unfair,” said the assistant examiner. While agreeing that the remuneration for teachers was “not adequate”, president of BSE-Orissa, Satyakam Mishra, said evaluating answer scripts was part of a teacher’s duty. “I admit the nominal remuneration might not be proportionate to the efforts they are putting in. But we are not able to pay them more since the examination fee per student is less than Rs 250 and in case we enhance the fee, there will be resentment,” said Mishra, adding that the state had waived the exam fee in 23 districts this year.

The evaluation process is likely to be completed by the end of April. Over 4.85 lakh students had appeared for the matriculation examinations this year, which were conducted from March 16 to March 30. Mishra said the results will be announced in June.