Teachers urge Maharashtra government to avoid April year-end exams

Ahead of the announcement of the timetable for year-end examinations, a teachers’ group has written to the state government against conducting the exams in April. According to the group heads, the school year-end exams were pushed from March to April in the previous year, which resulted in several teachers and students having to bear the brunt of scorching summers.

“We are writing to the authorities now so they can plan out the timetable well in advance. Last year, owing to the summer heat, many students fell ill, and the exam attendance was affected. Parents and teachers find this timetable inconvenient, too, and we hope to revert to the older system where exams were conducted by mid-March or by March-end,” said Tanaji Kamble, president of the Maharashtra Progressive Teachers Association (MPTA).

As per an annual week-by-week timetable released by the education department, the Periodic Assessment Tests (PAT) is also scheduled in April — a move that had met strong opposition last year owing to prevalent heat spells, and a time crunch for paper correction.

Demands made

. Cancel any plans for exams in April; plan tests in March instead 
. Utilise April for guiding students who have failed exams, before they take re-tests
. Allow principals to plan their annual school schedules

‘Hope tests begin early this time’

Principal, of Dadar-based school
‘We hope the tests will begin early this time, since they went on till April 25 last year. We have nearly 50-60 students in every classroom, and our teachers only got a couple of days to declare the results. Given that the results have to be uploaded digitally, the process needs to be even quicker. If the authorities want us to have the students in schools for longer, we can always plan extra classes and no-bag days after 
exams. However, teachers need at least 15 days to declare results properly.’