BSE Odisha Seeks Action Against Teachers Protesting OTET ‘Irregularities’

Bhubaneswar: The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) has sought tough action against the teachers who staged protest outside its office in Cuttack alleging irregularities in the special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET).

Several in-service primary school teachers from different parts of the state had held protest outside the BSE office in Cuttack on January 11 and 12 after they reportedly failed to qualify the special OTET.

Subsequently, the BSE has reportedly written to the Director of Elementary Education seeking strict action against the teachers who staged demonstration outside its office.

Stating that the BSE, Odisha had conducted one OTET Examination only for the in-service primary school teachers, it reportedly said the result of this examination was published on January 9. After publication of the results, many of those teachers who have not qualified in the test are coming to its office from January 11 and demonstrating with a demand to qualify them even with additional grace marks, it said.

Since January 11, everyday around 200 teachers from all over the state are gathering in front of the BSE office at Bajrakabati Road, Cuttack and shouting slogans with an irrational demand of qualifying them even though they have not scored the qualifying marks, it said.

To maintain transparency, the board said it has uploaded the scoring keys and the OMR answer sheets on its website where everyone can view their results and can verify the correctness.

The teachers’ presence is creating disturbances in the office work, it said, seeking disciplinary action against them for misconduct and dereliction of duty.