Bengaluru: With 50% of lecturers drafted for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, nearly 8,000 students of 20 govt PU colleges in Bengaluru are a worried lot over both gaps in academics and incomplete assessments.Exams are set to begin on Sept 25, but portions are incomplete. Some lecturers who have been relieved of SIR duty have started taking classes again, but others are still stuck with the poll duty.Some 142 of the 288 lecturers in Bangalore Central educational district have been assigned SIR duty. Some 4,930 in first PU and 2,928 in second PU are studying Arts, Science and Commerce streams in these institutions.While college principals have flagged concerns, the deputy director of the dept of school education, Bangalore Central educational district, has, in a letter, sought the release of at least half of the lecturers from SIR duty so that the daily activities of the college are not disrupted and classes can be conducted.“It is unfortunate that the department of school education has not thought about the consequences of this absence of teachers on campuses. They could have recruited additional guest lecturers but no alternative arrangements were made. But at commencement of the admission, they pressured us to increase enrolment. Now parents and students are asking us where the lecturers are,” said AH Ningegowda, president, Karnataka State Pre-University College Lecturers’ Association.TOI had reported earlier that experts have warned of learning loss due to long absence of teachers.Some schools said they have conducted formative assessments (FA), while others haven’t. “We are a nodal centre for SIR duties. All the three teachers are on SIR duty. We have not conducted FAs. How can we conduct assessments? We are unsure of summative assessment since nothing has been taught in classrooms,” said a primary school teacher.Vikas Kishor Suralkar, commissioner, school education department, said: “As per our data, 10-15% of teachers in Karnataka are on SIR duty. The impact on schools is not unmanageable, but (impact on) Bengaluru could be more. When teachers are back, we’ll hold extra classes. Summative assessment will be held as per schedule.”“We have been raising the issue of absence of teachers on campuses. Since sports is happening, some schools without PE teachers have regular teachers attending to it. When will they finally find time to teach?” asked Moidin Kutti, president, Karnataka State SDMC Co-ordination Central Forum.
