Explosion of anger

Students and parents are mighty unhappy after CBSE announced the re-examination of Maths for 10th standard and Economics for 12th standard after the news broke that the question papers had leaked through whatsapp and handwritten copies of the same were distributed before the exam. However, there are also some who feel there should be fairness in everything and thus the re-examination is a chance for establishing equity.

We spoke to some of the students who had all just heaved a sigh of relief after they completed their board exams but were soon hit with the depressing news that they will have to appear for the subjects again. We got in touch with parents as well and all of them echo the same feeling that this re-examination will add to the stress these students were already exposed to before their boards.

Nithila, a 10th standard student, who appeared recently for her boards, has a different take on it. “Though it does pose a huge inconvenience to students and parents alike, this is the only way to ensure the equity and integrity of these tests. It is necessary for the board to reduce inconvenience caused by this decision by ensuring re-examination is held in an orderly fashion”, she says.

Iqhra Fathima is also of the same thought that re-examination should be conducted because justice is needed and there would be equality only if the exams are re conducted is what she strongly feels.

Though some are vouching for the step taken by CBSE to hold the test for the two papers again, the majority of the students and parents alike are against it as they are unsure about what the new paper would be like.

“I think re-examination should not be conducted because students have spent ages preparing and also this is not our fault, we are afraid that the upcoming paper will be tough and this causes stress to the students”, says Nilofar, a 10th standard student who will have to appear for her Maths exam for the second time.

Since the leak has not taken place all over India, many are of the view that the decision of conducting the re-examination should only be made for the ones affected and not all should go through this torment again.

“I feel only Delhi students should write this exam and not in places where the paper was not leaked”, says Sathvika Balamurugan,student.

Like students, parent too are very upset and stressed due to this recent development. “I feel there is no requirement of re-examination since no two papers would be the same and the students have been working really hard since the past 5 months and making them go through this again is nothing short of torture as the subject - Maths - is a stressful subject by itself and nobody who doesn’t want to pursue science would want to go through it again.

The total number of students who appeared for the CBSE boards this year is close to 17 lakhs and only a very small number of students probably benefitted from the leak. Re-examination is not a solution to this since it will be an injustice to the majority of the students. The affected lot is only in Delhi-NCR region and re-scheduling exams all over India is unfair. The boards should come up with a different approach; they should consider the marks of the half-yearly exams or the pre-boards”, says Anjali Swaminathan, parent of a 10th standard student.

“I feel sad for the children suffering on account of mismanagement. As it is these kids have enough tension. Can do without this”, says S.S.Ramesh, a concerned parent whose child is not a board aspirant but feels strongly against the re-examination.

This is not the first time that CBSE has been affected by leaking of question papers but the stress is going up because of the larger number of students taking the exams every year. “Due to the money-making minded people, lakhs of students got affected. As a parent I am worried about the complexity of the upcoming re-exam question paper”, says Asha, a parent who feels against the business that goes behind leaking and selling question papers.