BY PRASANTA KU. DASH
Dhenkanal, Aug 8: While the Board of Secondary Education Odisha (BSEO) has lost peoples’ trust and credibility for the recently cracked down (Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test) OTET gross irregularity, the News7 satellite Odia News Channel, one of the premier newsrooms of the Summa Real Media expressed deep concern over it and endeavours to haunt for the real ‘snake under the grass’.
The News7 as a social tool and a respsible media venture organized an ampethatric discussion on the topic titled, “OTET Crackdown & Odisha Board of Secondary Education nexus’ at the Townhall in Dhenkanal on Thursday.
The News7, one of the subsidiaries of Siksha O Anusandhan University and Summa Real Media Private Ltd., in its benchmark intervention under the agies of ‘Mudda’that takes up emerging state & national affairs and pivotal issues worth significance, held a public discussion on various problems pertaining to the malfunction and devaluation of the BSEO, as an apex body of the secondary Education.
A panel of speakers including Ex. Panchayati Raj Minister Nabin Chandra Narayan Das, Ex-Vice President, BSEO Dr. Dharanidhar Nath, BJD leader Prakash Chandra Kuanr and Vice-President Odisha Secondary School Teachers’ Association (OSSTA), put forth their opinion on the significant topic whereas senior Anchor News7 Srivasta Dhal mediated the debate.
Apart from the panel, locals of Dhenkanal town comprising intelligentias, students and denizens, partook in the discussion and expressed concern over the present OTET Exam irrgularites, came under scanner.
BJP leader Nabin Chandra Narayan Das underlining the significant issue opined that the BJD government during its 24-year reign had planted seeds of corruption almost everywhere that the present government is weeding out, which believes on transparency and practises zero tolerance against corruption.
Dr. Dharanidhar Nath during his presentation, indicated towards the systemic failure in the Board’s organizational framework. He questioned on the role of the sitting BSEO Vice-president Nihar Ranjan Mohanty who is in the soup now, said to be the key pin in the OTET question papers leak row.
Highlighting some of the key infrastructural lapes, Nath said that conducting the HSC and some key Entrance Exams are the prime business of the BSEO where the reliability and validity of a question paper is the sole of the institution. Utmost confidentiality and transparency should be maintained in preparing the blueprints and finalized masters with the supervision of relevant key officials. However, may it be the state govt’s sheer laxity or want of political will, almost all questionares are regularly published outside Odisha that too in, non-credible private firms.It’s one of the prime reasons behind the OTET Exam pour out.
“During my incumbency I had put up a number of proposals to upgrade infrastructures to print out all Scholastic and non-scolastic question papers here in Odisha in our captive presses for better safety & security and to ensuring fair examinations. However, it was in vain”,Nath alleged.
BJD leader Kuanr blamed the BJP government pointing of systemic failure in conducting the OTET Exams meticulously.
During one-year of governance the state government conducted as many as 13 competetive examinations including the OTET one, of which at least 11 wreaked massive public outrage, as candidates complained of gross irregularities in them.
State Teachers’ representative Swain underlined the faulty methodology of exams, the BSEO has been adopting to evaluate the efficiency & potentials of teachers through the OTET Exams.
Swain also alleged that seniority and gradation of the experienced teachers are undermined with the OTET Exams as one & unique sets of questionare are meant for the antique ones and the freshers.
As the veterans can’t cope up with the new curricula, they resort to unfair means to qualify the OTET Exams, that becomes mandatory for continuing and validating their services, even their gradation, Swain added.
Worth mentioning, as the OTET potholes became apparent, BSEO’s Vice-President Nihar Ranjan Mohanty with a number of connivers have been lodged in jail. However, the ‘Snake behind the grass’ in the highprofile network and multi-crore kickback, is yet to be ascertained.
At a time, the crime detection wing of the Odisha police is persistently trying to wrap off the entire vicious circle that blamed the Odisha Education Department and tarnished the teaching-learning environment across the state, the New7 is trying to reach out the kingpin and unveil the deep-rooted origin of the most-hiped academic pitfalls of the year sourcing out public news and views.
