The Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) has sacked a teacher in Telangana after she was found guilty of awarding 0 marks to a student instead of 99. On Sunday, the BIE also suspended another teacher found guilty in this matter. The decision was taken on the recommendation of a three-member committee report that had found both teachers guilty of forsaking their duties.
Reportedly, Uma Devi, a private school teacher had evaluated Navya’s 12th class Telegu paper and awarded her a 0, but the student had deserved 99 marks in the paper. BIE also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Devi while the school management has terminated her.
Vinay Kumar, a teacher of a tribal welfare school was the scrutinizer but he failed to notice the serious error. He too stands suspended by the BIE as a result.
The results, which were released on April 18 by the board, were disappointing as over 3 lakh students failed to clear their examinations. Such results have forced many students to commit suicide. So far, about 20 students are reported to have succumbed to the failure in their board exams and have committed suicide.
The opposition parties have launched their protest against the K Chandrasekhar Rao led government on the issue. BJP state unit chief K Laxman who is sitting on a hunger strike has demanded a judicial probe. He has also urged the removal of education minister Guntakandla Jagdishwar Reddy and sacking of secretary of Board of Intermediate Education.
There are reports of an outbreak of massive protests outside the Nama Telangana Intermediate Council board office at Nampally district. About 1,000 of the protesting leaders from various political parties were taken into preventive custody.
These protests have forced the state government to announce free re-evaluation of answer sheets of these students. The government has also assured to rectify the lapses.
In its report, the three-member committee has mentioned inaccuracy on the part of the software developed by Glolarena Technologies, the tech firm hired by BIE for digital evaluation of exam-related work. The report mentions bubbling error in the OMR sheet had prevented awarding correct marks to students.
According to reports, VSN Raju, CEO of the firm has alleged that the issue was blown out of proportion. He has termed such mistakes as common and has alleged that the issue has been politicised this year. He asserted that the mistakes are due to human error and not because of the software.
