Thiruvananthapuram: All is not well with the valuation of CBSE Class X science answer papers, according to many parents. Though science is a single paper for Class X, separate teachers teach physics, chemistry and biology. A physics teacher may not have studied biology as a subsidiary subject at the graduate level and would have taught only his/her main subject in classrooms.
Hence, they would have to depend on the answer keys which give only guidelines for evaluation, said a teacher on condition of anonymity.
Mr Rajoo Krishnan, former joint commissioner of entrance examinations, told Deccan Chronicle that answer papers can be evaluated properly only by those who have studied the main subjects and taught them in schools. "I wonder why this issue has not got the attention it needed," he said.
Mr T.P.M. Ibrahim Khan, president, Kerala State CBSE School Management Association, said that many parents had complained about the anomalies in the science paper valuation. The association has taken up the issue with the CBSE chairman and the controller of examinations, he said.
Confusion had arisen earlier after the CBSE decided to change the pattern of evaluation to ensure error-free assessment of board answer sheets. The new pattern consisted of three layers. In the first step, two evaluators evaluate one answer sheet. In the second stage, the total marks are cross-checked by both the evaluators and also by the assistant head examiner (AHE). In the third stage, the AHE will hand over the final score to the head examiner who is responsible for uploading the scores on the CBSE website. This called for an increase in the number of teachers for evaluation.
At the beginning of the academic year, the CBSE, on the advice of the human resources development ministry, had issued guidelines to do away with the marks moderation as part of evolving a consensus among all central and state boards. As per the policy, extra marks awarded in certain papers if the questions were considered difficult was done away with on the finding that such moderation had led to inflation of board's examination scores.
As part of the changes, the board had issued a circular on March 5 making it mandatory for CBSE schools to send senior teachers for valuation duty. The board directed all schools to follow the directions as mentioned in the circular and relieve the teachers nominated by the board strictly as per the schedule.
The schools adopted a lax attitude in the past in relieving the teachers for evaluation duties thereby hampering the evaluation and result processing, the circular said.
The CBSE had in 2015 discontinued the facility of re-examining the papers for a certain number of questions for a fee. It claimed that there was no change of marks in 99.98 percent cases of re-examination. Hence, the process was adding to the burden of teachers.
The CBSE, however, allowed re-checking to ensure that every question has been marked. It also permitted re-calculation of marks to ensure that the totaling is correct and that additional sheets are all intact with the answer books. A number of students had their marks increased by 26-45 after these basic checks.
