Maharashtra Junior College Teachers' Exam Evaluation Boycott Jeopardizes Education of 15 Lakh Students

The Maharashtra Junior College Teachers' Association (MJCTA) has announced a boycott of the evaluation of Class 12 answer papers for the second consecutive year, citing unresolved grievances with the state government. This decision is poised to adversely impact approximately 15 lakh junior college students currently undergoing examinations. Despite the initiation of exams on February 21 and the completion of two papers (English & Hindi), the government has yet to address the teachers' concerns.

"Our boycott won't affect students, we are ensuring that exams are smoothly conducted. However, we are taking a staunch stand as last year also our demands were heard, put on paper but never executed," said MJCTA General Secretary Mukund Andhalkar. "Chief moderators from 8 zones meet after papers to discuss errors in the question papers, decide on examiners assessing answer scripts, and accordingly the answer sheets are checked. This year luckily the English paper had no errors, but last year there were 6 marks errors.These meetings are important as they discuss answer sheet-related assessments. But the government is not getting it, they are just make pseudo promises," added Andhalkar. After the association gave a written notice of the answer paper evaluation boycott, the Higher Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar discussed it with the federation on Monday, February 12. However, even after ten days, the minutes of the meeting have not been prepared yet. This has created resentment among the teachers.

MJCTA submitted a memorandum of its demand to the state board. The demands, including the implementation of the old pension scheme for teachers appointed before November 1, 2005, and the filling of vacant teaching positions, have not been addressed by the government. Additionally, the association seeks pay hikes for teachers holding advanced degrees, such as M.Phil., M.Ed., and Ph.D., and parity in salaries for part-time hourly teachers in non-government junior colleges compared to government junior college teachers and the retirement age should be increased to 60 as per the central government. Information Technology (IT) teachers, who are on remuneration should be given a pay scale or increment. "Government had been assured in writing that the approved IT teachers would be given a pay scale. IT is the future and the teachers have been paid a meagre amount of 5000 Rs. since 2001. Out of 500 teachers, 123 are approved by the government, atleast their salary can be increased," added Andhalkar. Last year, the association withdrew its boycott after receiving written assurances from the government on March 2, 2023. However, some promises made at that time, such as the approval of increased teaching positions, were only partially fulfilled. It was decided to approve all the increased posts, but instead of approving 1298 increased posts, an order was issued on November 9, 2023, to include only 283 teachers working on those posts, leading to dissatisfaction among teachers.