Teachers miffed over short Diwali vacation

MUMBAI: According to teachers in Maharashtra State Board schools, the education department never “considers” them as an integral part of the education fraternity. This time around, they are upset about having less time for assessing the answer papers, especially during Diwali vacations. The vacation which starts from November 5 this year is only for a fortnight unlike other years when it is generally 21 days.

The teachers are of the view that they will not be able to complete assessment in such a short span. “The department issued a notification which gave us the dates of the vacation. A couple of years ago, we used to get a good 21 days’ holidays which used to be enough for us to assess the papers, spend some time with our families, and celebrate Diwali. Now, in this case, we barely have any time to do any of these,” said a teacher.

Another teacher rued, “The department should understand that we teachers have a lot of papers which we need to assess and evaluate. Along with this, we even need to prepare a database for mark sheets during the procedure. They should realise that teachers don’t have the papers of only one subject or class to assess and evaluate. We have answer papers of multiple subjects and multiple grades.”

All state board schools will shut for vacations on November 5 and reopen on November 21, as per the notification issued by the department. Schools of other boards have personalised vacations for students and teachers.

Rajesh Pandya, another teacher of a Juhu-based government-aided school feel there is lack of planning when it comes to scheduling the Diwali vacations.