The higher secondary certificate (HSC) students across the state can now heave a huge sigh of relief, as the 60,000 teachers who had boycotted assessment of examination papers on account of long-standing unmet demands have withdrawn their strike. The strike retraction came on Wednesday evening, after a written assurance from the government talking of a settlement in the next few months. The teachers, in turn, promised to begin checking the papers from today, March 14, and make an effort to ensure that the results come out on time.

Anil Deshmukh, general secretary of Maharashtra Federation of Junior College Teachers Organisation (MFJCTO), said, “We have been having meetings with School Education Minister Rajendra Darda, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for the last two days. Finally on Wednesday evening our demands were accepted.”