Teachers’ body raises concerns over class 10 answer scripts valuation process issues

The Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) has urged the Director of Government Examinations Srinivasulu Reddy to address a series of technical and procedural issues faced by teachers during the ongoing class 10 answer script valuation process, which began across the State on April 6.

“The introduction of a tablet-based application for recording marks is causing operational difficulties, resulting in delays and additional workload for teachers engaged in valuation,” the federation’s State president Chennupati Manjula said.

APTF general secretary K. Basavalinga Rao said that the teachers have reported that the application frequently freezes while scanning OMR sheets, causing interruptions in work and when a bundle of 20 answer scripts is being scanned, if the final script fails to scan properly, the entire work done on the bundle becomes invalid, leading to wastage of time and effort, he said, adding that in subjects such as Physics, where a four-mark question contains multiple sub-questions, the application requires marks to be entered separately for each sub-question, instead of allowing entry of total marks for the question, resulting in repetitive data entry and slowing down of the process.

“Once the application freezes, it can be restored only by a technician, and the non-availability of technical staff at critical times is causing inconvenience to Assistant Examiners,” said Ms. Manjula, informing that teachers have also complained that restricting mark entry to tablets alone, without allowing the use of mobile phones, is contributing to delays.

The federation members suggested that a dedicated technician be assigned for each subject and that district-level login access be provided to resolve issues immediately. In addition, network connectivity problems were affecting the functioning of the tablets, prompting the demand for improved bandwidth and network support, they said.

The teachers’ body also expressed concern over the daily target of evaluating 80 answer scripts per Special Assistant, describing it as difficult to achieve under the current conditions. They said on the first day of valuation, teachers continued entering marks in tablets until 8 p.m., which was beyond the prescribed spot valuation schedule of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The federation leaders warned that extended working hours were causing significant mental and physical stress among teachers and may affect the quality of valuation. They also requested that teachers and staff engaged in valuation duties be allowed to leave without difficulty in case of emergencies and urged the authorities to take immediate corrective measures to resolve the issues.