Pay hike likely for evaluators

The Council for Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) has proposed to raise the amount paid to the teachers evaluating answer sheets every year.

The issue related to answer sheet evaluation was last raised by Higher Education Minister Badri Narayan Patra during the council’s 30th Foundation Day celebrations. The evaluators are now getting Rs 6 per answer sheet. Any teacher can correct up to 20 answer sheets per day. “We have separate committees to take decisions related to council’s operations. Even for the hike in the evaluation fees, the concerned committee will decide on the remuneration,” said CHSE chairman Nihar Ranjan Patnaik.

He added that they are most likely to increase the amount paid to the evaluators this year are faced with around 2.80 lakh copies for evaluation. That is much more than what the degree colleges get every year for correction. For this purpose even senior lecturers of the degree colleges are roped in to evaluate council’s answer sheets.

He talked about the additional stress that the teachers face along with classes and at times the examination duty. Also, CHSE does not receive any money from the State Government and manages completely on its own.

The last revision of the remuneration to the evaluators was done approximately four years back. The amount was raised from Rs 4 to Rs 6 per answer sheet. Even the remuneration for invigilation was last revised around four years back.

There is a need for qualified teachers who are capable of evaluating the answer sheets properly. There have been numerous cases in the past where a student had to suffer due to lapse on the part of the evaluator.

There have been instances where the marks of a copy sent for re-evaluation rose from 30s to 90s. Since CHSE does not depend on the State Government for its funding, the council may be forced to raise any of the miscellaneous fees that they take from the students.