Telangana: 24 government school teachers suspended for giving ‘zero marks’

Hyderabad: Twenty-four government teachers were suspended in Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s home district Medak after they awarded “zero marks” to students in SSC internal assessment (IA) in five schools.

The state suspended them for “negligence in discharging their duties properly” by not assessing the students’ performance during the year and awarding “zero marks” though the students were not at fault. Headmasters of these five schools also got memos for negligence.

The twenty-four government teachers who were suspended argued that the students had failed to meet the minimum 70 per cent attendance criteria was rejected by the government on the ground that if that was the case, why were SSC hall tickets issued to them and they were allowed for the written exams?

This is the first time that such a stringent action has been taken against teachers for negligence in duties, which has shaken up the 1.5 lakh-strong teaching community, which enjoys considerable clout in the TRS government. Teachers’ unions are now bringing pressure on the government to keep the suspensions in abeyance.

For the first time, from this year’s SSC exams, 80 marks were allotted to written exams and 20 for internal assessment in every paper unlike earlier, when 100 marks would be allotted to the written exam. Students will be declared failed if they do not obtain at least seven marks in internal assessment even if they secure 80 out of 80 in the written exam.

The IA marks will be awarded based on the students’ overall performance in the year, which include their attendance, extra curricular activities, discipline etc. Schools were asked to upload the IA marks of their students online and send the same to the SSC Board for inclusion in the final marks tally.

The Medak issue came to light after five schools reported zero marks for their schools, forcing the district administration to order an enquiry. The SSC results are expected to be released by May 11 and the Medak district administration has taken up rectification measures to ensure that these five schools do not record “zero results” and has sought permission from the SSC Board to resend the IA marks.

“This is nothing but gross negligence of teachers. They are trying to cover up their negligence by giving meaningless excuses like shortage of attendance etc. If that was the case, why were students allowed to appear for the written exams in the first place? By awarding zero marks, the teachers have certified themselves that they didn’t take classes properly and assessed students. We were forced to suspend them as such kind of negligence at the cost of students’ career cannot be tolerated,” said Medak district education officer Rajeshwar Rao.

While private schools awarded IA marks of 20 out of 20 marks for most of their students, the government teachers on the other hand failed their students by giving zero marks. He said the students who were affected included those studying in government high schools in Siddipet, Sadahivapet, Ramayampet, Chegunta etc.