Madhyamik starts today, schools scramble to arrange invigilators

Kolkata: As teachers perform duties as booth-level officers (BLOs), schools serving as venues for Madhyamik exams from Monday are struggling to bring in invigilators from neighbouring schools to cover the shortfall.TOI reported earlier that, to address this crunch, district inspectors (DIs) in every district made alternative arrangements by deploying teachers as invigilators from neighbouring schools. Though deploying teachers to exam centres from neighbouring schools is common practice, it saw a sudden spike this year as a significant number of teachers from every school were assigned BLO duties.
Despite pleas from West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE), no officer, teacher, or staffer was released by the Election Commission, prompting the education department to make alternative arrangements.Jodhpur Park Boys' School, for the first time, required invigilators from neighbouring schools as four teachers from the morning section who were supposed to be invigilators were assigned BLO duties. Headmaster Amit Sen Majumder said, "Four teachers and one group-D staffer from neighbouring schools have been assigned to us for the Madhyamik examination. We have two group-D staffers, but one shifted to another govt job and the other lost his job as he was from the 2016 panel. We never asked for additional teachers for invigilation duties, but this time the problem has arisen due to SIR duties."In central Kolkata, most teachers of Lee Memorial were assigned SIR duties, leaving a skeleton staff and the headmistress at the school to conduct the Madhyamik exam, relying on support from neighbouring schools.At Rani Rashmoni High School, out of 11 teachers, five were assigned SIR duties. Among the remaining six, four were assigned invigilation duties for two neighbouring schools. "From Monday, two teachers and I will be at school to hold other academic activities," said headmaster Syed Mohsin Imam.At Taltala High School, 12 of the 18 teachers were assigned invigilation duty. Headmaster Rittick Kundu said they are concerned about the HS exam as it is set to start on Feb 12, which is also the last day of the Madhyamik exam.Out of 15 teachers at Bhawanipur Girls' High School, seven are still performing BLO duties, and the school is managing the shortage with help from five neighbouring schools. Teacher in charge Lipika Bera said, "Every year, we need backup from neighbouring schools as we already have a shortage of teachers. But this time, we need more to cover the additional shortage due to SIR duty." WBBSE made it clear that despite the challenge due to unavailability of officers, teachers, and staffers, there will be no disruption in exam procedure and all necessary arrangements have been made.