SSC, HSC examiners to be paid online

For teachers who moderate and assess HSC and SSC exam papers and complain of not receiving their cheques on time, there's some good news. Instead of issuing cheques, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, starting this year, will be directly crediting the amount to their accounts.

The board has decided to accumulate all bank details of teachers and directly transfer the amount to them using the online method. Laxmikant Pande, divisional chairman of the board, said, "It has been our experience in the past that several examiners and moderators would complain of not receiving their cheques on time. Hence, this year, we decided that we would credit the amount directly to their accounts."

The board has issued forms to teachers asking them for their bank details so that the money for evaluating and assessing exams goes directly to their accounts

S Bharadwaj, a science teacher from Sacred Heart School in Vashi, who is a moderator, confirmed that he had received the form on February 11. "This is the first time that the board will not be issuing cheques and we are all hoping it goes well. Till today, I haven't had any problems regarding payments but this system will reduce the administrative work of schools."

Explaining the benefits of the system, Sucheta Kale, accounts officer of the board, said, "In many cases, teachers would forget to deposit their cheques and the validity would lapse. These cheques would then be sent to us for revalidation and we would have to issue a new one, making it a time-consuming procedure. The new system will also help us curb the expenditure of issuing approximately 25,000 cheques each year."

Meera Kunthe, principal of St Joseph's High School and Junior college, Kalamboli, said that it was a good move by the board. "We received the forms from the board office asking for the details of the examiners and moderators to be submitted to us. We have hence directed the respective faculty to do so."

Did you know?
A teacher receives Rs 1.75 per paper for a one-hour SSC paper and Rs 4.25 for a three-hour paper. A moderator receives Rs 1,990 for 1,800 papers. Meanwhile, HSC teachers receive Rs 2 for a one-hour paper and Rs 5 for a three-hour paper. The moderator gets Rs 2,325 for 1,800 papers.u00a0