CBSE Class 10th and 12th examinees suffer for their no fault

CBSE 2018 Board Exam Paper Leakage scandal: Class 10 Math, Class 12 Economics 

Last updated 4-April'18:  In a major relief to Class 10 students, the Central Board for Secondary  Education (CBSE) on Tuesday, 3rd April'18 announced that it has decided not to conduct re-exam of Class 10th Maths anywhere in the country. The CBSE has taken the considered decision not to hold re-examination of Class-10 maths paper  even in Delhi-NCR and Haryana. Instead, it said wherever it was conclusively established, after due enquiry in specific cases, that undue advantage of the alleged leakage had been taken by beneficiaries, action shall be taken as per the provisions of CBSE Examination Bye Laws.

Updated 30-Mar'18:  The re-examination of Central Board of Secondary Examination's Class 12 economics paper will be held on April 25, while the re-test for Class 10 mathematics is likely to be conducted in July, Education Secretary Anil Swarup said today. He said a preliminary enquiry has revealed that the leak for Class 10 mathematics paper is restricted to Delhi and Haryana. "Regarding Class 10 re-examination, as leak was restricted to Delhi and Haryana, if it at all a re-exam will happen, it will happen only in Delhi and Haryana and a decision will be taken on this in next 15 days. If at all a re-exam is done, it will be in July," There has been no leak outside India, hence no re-examination will be held outside the country, he said. The question papers are different for students appearing for the CBSE examinations outside India. Swarup said.

First Posted on 27-March-18
Lakhs of children, who had just finished the first board exam of their life (Class 10^th) and were about to set out on their holiday trips, have been handed over a most unwelcome, hard decision to them all: a mathematics retest on an unspecified date.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced on Wednesday, 28th March that it would re-conduct the Class 10 mathematics examination and the Class 12 economics exam after both papers were leaked, affecting an estimated 20 lakh students across India. The CBSE said the re-exam dates would be announced within a week and the difficulty level will remain unchanged.

Officially Class 12 board exams will end on 13th April while Class 10 board exams on 4th April. But for many Class X students, Wednesday's math exam was the last exam as the remaining subjects range from Sanskrit to Painting.

Hours before math exam was to begin on Wednesday morning, the questions were available on WhatsApp groups. Several parents in Delhi later complained that the questions circulated on the social media were in the same sequence as they appeared on the math question paper.

The questions asked in the Class XII economics exam, held on Monday, we're available on WhatsApp before actual test began.

The CBSE, which falls under the administrative control of the HRD Ministry, has taken up the issue with the Delhi police.

This would be the first nationwide retest in recent memory. The magnitude of the problem would have been much less had the CBSE retained is policy of drafting different sets of question paper for different regions. The call for a nationwide retest has fuelled suspicion that CBSE had opted for a composite paper.

All 20 lakh students would not have had to take CBSE 10th math and 12th economics re-exam had the board apparently not shifted from its earlier policy of different sets of question papers for different regions. Many more students are affected and are forced to take this hardship for their no faults. Had the board (CBSE) followed their earlier practice, the number of affected students would have been confined to a few regions, and not the whole country.

According to the earlier practice, CBSE used to prepare multiple sets of question papers of equal difficulty levels and send different sets to different regions. Although it is not confirmed whether the CBSE indeed did away with the practice, CBSE said the students across India would have to sit re-exam.

Last year the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was in another controversy over moderation of marks by different school boards. The moderation is done to compensate for difficulty levels across sets of question papers and also to match the pass rate of previous year. Under moderation, the students are awarded extra marks subject to a ceiling. For details read: CBSE stops Moderation - No More Extra Marks

(Source: The Telegraph, edited)