Recently, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) released tenders for an on-screen digital evaluation system. With regard to this, the Board of Intermediate officials and the Junior Lecturers have locked horns. But first, what is this new online system? This system involves scanning and uploading answer sheets of the Intermediate Public Examination (IPE) on software where teachers will evaluate by reading on a computer screen and allocate marks digitally.
Further, the TSBIE wants to implement the system from the IPE being held in March 2023. Opposing this move, a few teachers' organisations in the state opposed the move saying that nobody was informed about the decision and the evaluators have not been trained to evaluate answer sheets written by 25 lakh students when the examination is scheduled to begin within 45 days, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
In a press conference held on Saturday, January 28, Telangana Government's Junior Lecturers Association President, Madhusudan Reddy, said that the implementation of the system will lead to the repetition of 2019 when digitalisation of marks allegedly lead many students to fail and later some of them committed suicide. Clarifying the allegations made by the association, Commissioner of Intermediate Board, Navin Mittal, on Monday, January 30 said that the system is foolproof and transparent.
Giving more details, Mittal said, "All the answers will be scanned and sent to evaluators. There will be model answers to questions on the basis of which the evaluators can allocate numbers or select 'not answered' when needed. The answer sheet will not be closed until all the answers have been evaluated." He clarified that in 2019, the totalling was done manually leading to mistakes. However, in the new system, the totalling will also be done automatically. A login ID will be provided to teachers enabling them to evaluate from anywhere as per their comfort, he added.
In this context, he said, "It will also save the cost of setting up a camp, food, tea, travelling and other expenses of teachers called for evaluation." Further, he also cited examples of Osmania University, BR Ambedkar Open University and the Board of technical education where each year, approximately 60 lakh, 13 lakh and 23 lakh answer sheets are being evaluated through an online system, respectively.
Additionally, TSBIE has also launched a complaint against Madhusudan Reddy in Begum Bazar Police Station alleging that Reddy entered the board office, threatened officers and illegally tried to access official information, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
