Thiruvananthapuram: Several CBSE students and their parents have been spending sleepless nights following the leak of question papers of class 12 economics and class 10 mathematics examinations held on March 26 and 28 respectively.
The class 10 students heaved a sigh of relief after the union education secretary announced that there would not be re-test of the mathematics paper. But re-examination would be held for the class 12 economics paper on April 25.
However, experts say that the leak was reported only in a small area of Haryana-Delhi and that there is no point in conducting a re-test which will give a harrowing time again to the students.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the board's decision to conduct re-examination. It said that the CBSE has to decide on re-examination and that the court cannot decide on the matter.
The CBSE felt that the leak of class 10 mathematics paper had no impact on the prospects of students. Class X examination is essentially a gateway for class XI and it thus remains largely an internal segment of the school education system.
On the other hand, class XII exams are a gateway to higher education and various professional competitive examinations.
Kerala CBSE School Management Association general secretary Indira Rajan told Deccan Chronicle that vested interests were circulating rumours about re-test earlier to spread panic among the students. The leak occurred in Delhi and Haryana and it did not affect the state, said Ms Rajan. All-Kerala Parent -Teachers' Association president Sudheer G. Kollara also blamed the social media for spreading the rumours.
Mr Jyothis Chandran, chairman of the Jyothis Central School, Kazhakuttom, said that even if the questions were leaked in the entire country, a re-test was unnecessary. "Even if the questions were leaked one or two weeks ahead, the students would have to cover the leaked portion before the examinations.
“Students who failed to cover the whole textbook in one year would not have covered the whole question papers in such a short period. They would not have been able to answer all the questions also," Mr Chandran said.
Following the leak, the students who otherwise would have scored 50 percent marks might improve it to 60 percent. The difference in marks for students who score high would be minimal. These students would have already covered the whole portions even before the leak.
There was no possibility of failed students getting pass marks. They fail because of their inability to comprehend the portions or their slackness in covering the topics.
There would not be any change in this situation even if they got the leaked question papers, said Mr Chandran.
"In my view, there is no need to conduct a re-test for the economics paper also. The re-examinations would be held on April 25, one month after the original examinations were held on March 26.
“The students would have lost touch with the portions and they will not revise the syllabus due to the holiday mood. Only studious children study during this period and that too under parental pressure," said Mr Chandran.
Hence, conducting re-examination after such a long gap would not help the students. "If the CBSE is really concerned about their welfare, it should avoid the re-examinations," he said.
