As CBSE fails, Students to reappear: The Curious Case of Covering Mistake with a Blunder!
Ashish Kedia
(28/03/2018) Noida :
Central Board of Secondary Education today released a notice stating that board exams for 10th Maths and 12th Economics will be re-conducted in light of all the controversies engulfing the leakage of these very important papers.
Just for hindsight, about 28 Lakh people from all over India appeared for 10th and 12th CBSE board exams. The alleged paper leak happened when, where and how is still not confirmed (at least not in public domain) but CBSE has passed on the bucks to the students who will have to prepare and reappear for these significant exams again.
Anyone and everyone who has given a Board exam in India understand the significance of this drill. It isn’t uncommon for board aspirants to be greeted with sweets, curd (a popular good omen) and a Tilak on their forehead before they appear for their first boards. Such customs alone speak for the importance of this examination in Indian society.
Principals, teachers, parents and students expressed similar surprise and anguish over the decision taken by HRD ministry to re-conduct the examination.
Speaking to Ten News Shruti Ohri a 10th standard student of Cambridge School Noida said, “I just gave my maths exam, only to find out that I have to give it again. This is a completely hasty and unnecessary step, and it seems that this step was taken, only to compensate for and to cover up for the irresponsible nature of CBSE. Most of us students, had absolutely no clue about the paper being leaked, and thus we were extremely happy for the fact that it went well and also that half of us were done with exams and the rest had only one left. It’s ridiculous that the CBSE thinks of our future as a game. I believe that the step taken to conduct a re-exam is completely useless. That is definitely not how you’re supposed to solve an issue. WHY are you punishing the students for something that some corrupt people did for no reasons? Shouldn’t the first step be to take immediate action to investigate the series of events? Shouldn’t the culprits be punished? Then, why are the students being punished? “.
Stressing on the travesty of the present decision by CBSE she further adds, “Giving an exam, and that too, giving a board exam once is stressful enough, and it’s even worse that we have to give it twice. The thing is that, you cannot solve this issue by a re exam. When the problem is in the SYSTEM, conducting a re-exam will NOT make ANY DIFFERENCE. All year, we were constantly being told to prepare for these BOARD EXAMS, and is this why? To give one extra exam, even when it wasn’t our fault. Is this what all the hype was about?”
Principal of Ryan International School, Greater Noida Sudha Singh says “CBSE is currently allocating a lot of examination centres. Even institutes who might not be that well equipped to manage it are being given a chance. So I guess some restrain is required at that front. Re-examination is more troublesome for class 12 students as they have to appear for other competitive exams as well. I wish that the places where examination papers are kept need to be better protected and secondly cybercrime issue also seems to be affecting other examinations which need to be tackled as well”.
Giving similar views, Ascent International School Principal Birendra Bansal says, “CBSE has a great repute and it is certainly disheartening for all the stakeholders be it teachers, students or the parents. CBSE have had an exemplary record and it is very tough to fathom as to what went wrong this year. Student be it of 10th or 12th standard have to go through lot of pressure while appearing for their boards. A repeat of the same, that too without a mistake of the most involved, is really a sad chapter. Measures must be adopted to ensure none such blunder”.
Rajiv Goyal, an official in NPCL and a parent of a child who appeared in these examinations minces no words to ask a very direct question, “Does government cancels election all over India if a booth capturing happens at some place? Why are students from all over India being punished for a mistake that CBSE committed at some place? Shouldn’t a complete inquiry be done first?”
The response on social media has also been similar. People have also pointed out how on several occasions CBSE has failed to prepare and produce an error free paper. Tallking about the same Shruti, says, “There were several errors in the question papers, which made me wonder, if there is any proof reading of the papers? Why do the question papers have so many errors? Why is the Board forced to give grace marks for silly error that THEY MADE THEMSELVES? Is it that hard to make a single paper? Then just imagine how hard it must be to give an exam AGAIN”.
(This is a developing story, views and opinions might be added as and where necessary)
