CBSE and an annual ordeal for teachers

India’s Central Board of Secondary Education [CBSE] is one the largest education boards in the world. It operates over 27,000 schools across India and 28 other countries serving about 6.4 million students. Maybe such enormity of size makes it terribly inefficient in some matters. The assignment of assessment duties to its teachers is one area where the Board has failed again and again.

I pointed this out to the regional director of the Board in Thiruvananthapuram many years ago. The man ordered an enquiry against me instead of looking into the seriousness of the issue I raised. The principal of the school where I was performing the assessment duty was entrusted with the duty of inquiring about my credentials. I told her to write whatever she wanted.

“What can that man do?” I asked the principal with unconcealed sneer. “At the most he can cancel my assessment duties and I will be happy for that.”

Yes, my problem was precisely that duty. I was always given the duty in faraway places which required of me to leave home early in the morning and return home late in the evening. Long drives are not only tiring but also expensive. Who pays for the petrol? Why can’t CBSE give these duties to teachers in schools nearer their homes? That was one of my questions. My questioning actually started when the Regional Director asked teachers to join two or three groups on WhatsApp and Telegram. It was an absurd and pointless demand. That man was just imposing his gargantuan ego on hapless teachers. And my ego rebelled.

In the end, the Regional Officer realised that he was helpless in taking any action against me. I was not his employee. Simple.

Almost a decade has passed now but nothing has changed vis-à-vis the assignment of duties. Maggie has got her duty in a place which can be reached only after a two-hour bus journey since she doesn’t drive a car. And the buses are unbearably crowded in the mornings and evenings. Fortunately Maggie’s brother lives quite near to the school where Maggie was allotted duty. So Maggie has shifted her residence temporarily for the sake of CBSE.

I went with her on the first day of her duty since she was not familiar with the place. The school belongs to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan which was managing our school in Delhi before a godman encroached and killed it.

This Kerala school’s campus was as charming as its Delhi counterpart’s. I felt some strange nostalgia. I found myself clicking a lot of pics. Here are a few.