Kolkata, 10 March (H.S.) : The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education has informed the heads of government and aided schools that teachers will not be granted exemption from higher secondary answer script evaluation duties this year due to a severe shortage of teachers at the secondary and higher secondary levels.

In a letter sent to institutions, the council stated that the number of teachers in the state is significantly lower compared to the large number of students appearing for the examinations, making it necessary to involve all available teachers in the evaluation process.

“You are aware of the fact that, in our state, at the secondary and higher secondary levels, the strength of teachers is critically low compared to the number of students. Therefore, the council cannot exempt any teacher from script evaluation duty,” the council said in a communication sent to headmasters on Monday.

A council official said on Tuesday that requests seeking exemption from evaluation responsibilities would generally not be approved under the present circumstances.

The semester-based Higher Secondary examinations concluded on February 27. Students who had failed to clear the third semester examinations held in September appeared for supplementary tests along with the fourth semester examinations between February 12 and February 27.

In addition, the final batch of candidates who had failed the Higher Secondary examination under the previous annual system last year also appeared for the tests conducted in February.

According to a council official, nearly 7.5 lakh students took part in the examinations this year, resulting in a massive number of answer scripts that now require evaluation.

Earlier, the council had also engaged primary school teachers as invigilators during the Class XII board examinations to address the shortage of teachers at the higher secondary level.

Meanwhile, the recruitment of 12,514 teachers for the Class XII level is required to be completed by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission by August 31 in compliance with a directive of the Supreme Court of India.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh