Why sharing CBSE answer sheets must be mandatory
Manash Pratim Gohain & Shradha Chettri TNN
New Delhi:10.02.2019
Ahead of the Central Board of Secondary Education examinations for Class XII, faulty evaluation and tabulation of answer sheets is a worry that cannot be discounted. TOI has highlighted in a series of reports how students are put to traumatic experiences because of mistakes in the evaluation. Parents, students, experts and even school principals feel that one lasting solution for this is to make the evaluated answer papers accessible in password protected digital format to all candidates.
One can imagine the ordeal of a teenager who is told he has obtained 58 marks in mathematics when in reality his effort has earned him 90. This is an example of an actual error, one of many due to shoddy evaluation or mark tabulation recorded year after year. Such a discrepancy in marks is almost criminal in an era when even half a percentage can rob a student of a seat in a desired college or in a desired course in a university — and might well alter the course of the aspirant’s academic destiny.
Stakeholders want all answer scripts available in digitized form
The stakeholders in school education are now veering to the idea of all answer scripts being available to students in digitized form.
After most school tests, students are given back their answer sheets — it is even mandatory in some institutions and parents are asked to sign them — so it is ironical that at a level where seeing the answer script actually makes a difference, they are afforded the chance only through a drawn-out, paid process. “Not everyone can afford to pay the extra amount. As it is the students already pay a good sum as examination fee,” observed Yashwant Singh Negi, principal of Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Ghitorni. A Class XII student pays₹1,230 as exam fees and an additional sum for any subject he may take up other than the prescribed five.
Though CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi considered it unnecessary to give back the answer sheets, Negi explained why letting all students have access to their answers could lead to the eradication of the problem of errors — most of them due to sheer lack of diligence on the part of evaluators. “With children getting to see their papers, one can ensure the accountability of the teacher assessing the paper and make it easier to determine where the mistake occurred,” he said. Rectifying wrongly assessed papers is a month-long process and entails costs for the students.
Ashok Agarwal, lawyer, Right to Education activist and head of the All India Parents’ Association, was certain that a measure like this would increase transparency and put the examiners under pressure to be accurate. “If all answer papers are accessible, there will be a dramatic improvement in the evaluation process. It will be a deterrent to examiners who take evaluation in a non-serious manner,” Agarwal said. TOI has reported instances of a few teachers taking the assessment lightly and making errors.
Experts say a measure like this would increase transparency and put the examiners under pressure to be accurate
Manash Pratim Gohain & Shradha Chettri TNN
New Delhi:10.02.2019
Ahead of the Central Board of Secondary Education examinations for Class XII, faulty evaluation and tabulation of answer sheets is a worry that cannot be discounted. TOI has highlighted in a series of reports how students are put to traumatic experiences because of mistakes in the evaluation. Parents, students, experts and even school principals feel that one lasting solution for this is to make the evaluated answer papers accessible in password protected digital format to all candidates.
One can imagine the ordeal of a teenager who is told he has obtained 58 marks in mathematics when in reality his effort has earned him 90. This is an example of an actual error, one of many due to shoddy evaluation or mark tabulation recorded year after year. Such a discrepancy in marks is almost criminal in an era when even half a percentage can rob a student of a seat in a desired college or in a desired course in a university — and might well alter the course of the aspirant’s academic destiny.
Stakeholders want all answer scripts available in digitized form
The stakeholders in school education are now veering to the idea of all answer scripts being available to students in digitized form.
After most school tests, students are given back their answer sheets — it is even mandatory in some institutions and parents are asked to sign them — so it is ironical that at a level where seeing the answer script actually makes a difference, they are afforded the chance only through a drawn-out, paid process. “Not everyone can afford to pay the extra amount. As it is the students already pay a good sum as examination fee,” observed Yashwant Singh Negi, principal of Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School, Ghitorni. A Class XII student pays₹1,230 as exam fees and an additional sum for any subject he may take up other than the prescribed five.
Though CBSE secretary Anurag Tripathi considered it unnecessary to give back the answer sheets, Negi explained why letting all students have access to their answers could lead to the eradication of the problem of errors — most of them due to sheer lack of diligence on the part of evaluators. “With children getting to see their papers, one can ensure the accountability of the teacher assessing the paper and make it easier to determine where the mistake occurred,” he said. Rectifying wrongly assessed papers is a month-long process and entails costs for the students.
Ashok Agarwal, lawyer, Right to Education activist and head of the All India Parents’ Association, was certain that a measure like this would increase transparency and put the examiners under pressure to be accurate. “If all answer papers are accessible, there will be a dramatic improvement in the evaluation process. It will be a deterrent to examiners who take evaluation in a non-serious manner,” Agarwal said. TOI has reported instances of a few teachers taking the assessment lightly and making errors.
Experts say a measure like this would increase transparency and put the examiners under pressure to be accurate
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