Teachers boycott evaluation work for fourth day

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 7

Teachers of 94 government colleges continued to boycott the evaluation work for the fourth consecutive day today. The deadlock between the government and the teachers is costing the sixth semester students dear.

“There has been no effort on the part of the government to resolve the deadlock and implement the demands of the teachers. In case, the results are delayed, the government will be held responsible,” said general secretary and joint secretary of the Himachal Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA) RL Sharma and Joginder Saklani.

The teachers are up in arms against the government for not implementing the assurances given by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh regarding their demands and the university, which is feeling the heat, is helpless as the ball is in the court of the government. The ABVP has asked the university and the state government to resolve the issues. It has threatened to resort to an agitation in case the results were delayed.

It seems that the classes that start from July would start by September. The delay in results would make things difficult for students opting for universities outside the state, said ABVP state secretary Ashish Sektha.

After the ‘faulty and hasty’ implementation of RUSA, the declaration of results of undergraduate courses was delayed inordinately and the university is again in a difficult situation.

Teachers of five government-aided private colleges are conducting the evaluation of answersheets, but these colleges account for only 7,500 students.

President of the Himachal Pradesh Aided College Teachers’ Association (HPACTA) Dr CP Kaushal said the colleges — St Bede’s College, Shimla, MLSM College, Sundernagar, SVSD College, Bhatoli and DAV Colleges at Kangra and Kotkhai — had been evaluating the answersheets. Kaushal said the association was in favour of evaluation centres in all government and government-aided colleges. This would help declare the results in time and maintain transparency in the evaluation process, he added.