LEAK GATE: 16,38,428 cries

Just as soon as the news of a re-examination for Grade X and XII students, who gave the CBSE Board Exams broke; rumours, speculations and an air of sheer disappointment is floating around. Clearly, a sense of panic and anger among city parents and students is evident. A detailed probe is underway to trace the origin of the circulation of the Class 10 Maths and Class 12 Economics papers on WhatsApp (just hours before the exam). The leak has resulted in 2.8 million students of both subjects having to re-appear for retests (For Class 10 Maths exam, 16,38,428 registered candidates and for the class 12 Economics exam, all who had registered for the March 26 exam. Aside from questions raised on the fairness of the deal and the demand  for a new leak-proof system in place; many vacation plans have gone kaput! We document their angst and more…

Quite like most others going through this development; Vani Krishna, a freelance counselor who is mum to Gauri Krishna, a grade 12 Brigade School student, believes the ordeal of having to re-sit is too much for students to shoulder. “My daughter is literally in tears! Most students are psychologically drained out. The CBSE exams by itself drag for over a month — owing to the pattern and the leaves between each subject. They can’t keep studying. Especially since there are other entrances to prepare for,” she expresses. Most have a system or a timeline to abide by as they have to prepare their children for entrance exams too. She adds, “What adds to the misery was the nature of the paper, which was well received by most students. The paper was set very well, it was nicely set keeping portions and important chapters in mind. Economics papers are tricky, this paper was tricky too but nothing was out of syllabus. So it came as a blow. It is not that my daughter is not willing to write it. She is going to write different exams like CLAT too. But she was busy studying for 12th so was waiting to get done with this to start preparing. CLAT exams procedures are all online, so it is very difficult. It’s too much multi-task. Their mind has to be free for this. I’m really worried.”

Not a happy ending! Harshith Siddarth Swamy,  a standard 10 student of NHVPS, states, “The euphoria of the exams being over was short lived. People who worked hard and scored near full/full marks are at a disadvantage as the coming paper may pose new difficulties. The decision to re-conduct the examination was clearly not fair as the board stated. Instead strict measures must be taken to prevent future papers from getting leaked.” 

A volley of youngsters also feel that the paper leak and a subsequent reexamination is unfair, as it was the boards inability to keep the question papers for maths (grade 10) and economics (grade 12) from leaking. Ram Aravind, another 10th grader from NHVPS believes the ordeal of having to re-sit for an exam is very arduous, “It has been a long year with the new format introduced. Full portions were a new thing for us, and it was not easy. It was very hard to hear about the leak just a few minutes after the exam. We were very happy after the exam, but the joy lasted only a couple of hours. Strict action must be taken, and the person who caused this must be severely punished.”

Incidentally, it’s not just the holiday plans that have gone awry, but parents feel the drama is taking a toll on them as well. Film maker and city mom, Sharmila Aaravind states, “Actually the children had planned a class farewell and were looking forward to relaxing, and enjoying the event. Now, the uncertainty has put all plans off balance and the nagging fear of a tougher Maths paper is making them insecure. Very unfair that they have to go through this, again. As a mother, my heart goes out to the children who have honestly prepared for the exam and successfully delivered their best, only to find out that it was of no use what so ever! This has left most parents equally stressed.”