Not on board
It is often said, very aptly, that education is too important to be left solely to the hands of educators (“First person: ‘With the CBSE leaks, I have lost my faith in the system,’ writes a Class 10 student”). As a result, the field of education is filled with a number of people who have nothing to do with it: post-hopping, acquiescent and corrupt bureaucrats, politicians and fake consultants. When you have such people making crucial decisions, what you get are adhocism, seat-of-the-pants management, fire-fighting and colossal incompetence.
Contrary to claims that decisions are made with the interests of children at heart, long-term planning has been replaced with short-sighted patchwork only to please certain regressive ideas and political camps. Children and parents are taken for a ride and it is not surprising that this ride is stressful, traumatic and hopeless. That the ordinary citizens are driven to despair and are hence unable to suggest a solution to this mess speaks volumes about how the haphazard functioning and incompetence of the education system administrators have destroyed our souls. Administrators need to return to schools and learn a thing or two about what they demand of children: the art of thinking. – S Banerjee
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I have lost faith in the CBSE. They say that the paper leak for Class 10 mathematics exam was restricted to Delhi and Haryana only. How is that possible in the era of social media? I am a Class 10 student from West Bengal and in my school, most students knew the mathematics question paper before the exams. Though nobody was sure whether the leaked questions were authentic, many students decided to take a chance on them and they did turn out to be accurate. After the exams, everyone who had access to the leaked paper were really happy as they would now get full marks without proper preparation. I, being a sincere learner who worked hard throughout the year, has to face injustice now as nobody wants to listen to our plea. – Rekha
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I agree with the writer. Some other points can also be taken into account. The batch who gave the Class 10 board exams in 2018 were used to the Continous and Comprehensive Evaluation or CCE pattern, which would test only half the year’s syllabus in one go. CCE also gave students and schools the option for in-house board exams, with papers set by their respective schools. So when the system was scrapped, the students were bombarded with double the syllabus load for their board exams. May be that led to pressure to seek easier means to pass the exams, and hence the leak? Also, the re-examination dates are yet to be finalised. Isn’t that further indecisiveness on the CBSE’s part?
There has to be a retest for the entire country. This may be distressing but if not done, it will affect the all-India ranking of toppers. – Kavitha Nandy
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I was once a student and am now an educated mother of three students. Exams are nerve-wracking in India. There is no room for merit. No accountability. No one cares.
My children have never cheated. They spend months preparing for exams. But they were always disappointed by the results. When papers are sent for re-evaluation, the results take inordinately long to come. But who cares in India? Not the government we voted to power and not the education ministers. – Anjali Falleiro
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The CBSE should be scrapped because it is not efficient. If they cannot handle school exams, how will they handle NEET [National Eligibility and Entrance Test] or other exams? Students no longer have faith in the board. – Farzana Khanum
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As the older sister of a Class 10 CBSE student, I am very disappointed with news of a re-examination. These government decisions are putting pressure on students and creating negativity. – Deepika Dubey
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Thank you for publishing such an amazing letter by a Class 10 student. Well said. A sheet of paper cannot be considered the test of someone’s life. – Khizre Hussain
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This is not done (“CBSE paper leak: Class 12 economics exam on April 25, Class 10 maths re-test only for Delhi, Haryana”). I am a Class 12 CBSE student. It is my humble request to the respected authorities to reconduct our chemistry and biology exam because that paper was leaked too. It is not fair to us. We will not score as much as those students who got the paper in advance. – Elena Gilbert
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I am a school head, a teacher and a parent. It is terribly unfair on the part of the CBSE to not guard against such practices and then provide the most convenient solution. Schedules will be upset and money wasted, not to mention the difficulties of the students who have to reappear for the exams.
But all is not lost because once again, the students will rise to the occasion. India’s past might be what it is but India’s future is what we are hopeful about. And you students are the future.
Students were right to protest against the CBSE’s move because the board would not have got the message otherwise. I am confident that the icing on the cake will be that those who appear for the re-exams will come out with flying colours. Students must look at it as a mishap that they are going to unitedly overcome. After all, you students are preparing for life, and mishaps are a part of that. So be positive and we shall always be proud of the future India. We are also proud of each and every one of our students. – Seema
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Re-examination is a bad decision. The CBSE does not care about our efforts. It is the board’s fault that the paper was leaked. It is not fair to hold a re-examination. – Diya Juneja
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This is too bad for those students who studied hard and were well prepared. On the other hand, it is good news for students who did not do so well. – Raghu Nishad
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It is very unfortunate that lakhs of children have to sit through a retest. The CBSE cannot make so many suffer. They want to make the system leak proof, which is good. But there is no guarantee that such leaks will not happen again. Re-examinations could become a trend. In this particular case, after a few arrests, things will go back to normal. – Asit Ray
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It is sad to see the CBSE’s functioning. The board must conduct re-examinations for all CBSE students because as it stands, there is no difference between students who work really hard and those who study the leaked question paper. – John Doss
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What the CBSE is doing is not right. They are considering re-exams in only two states, but social media’s influence extends to all the states. The CBSE should not play with our futures by being partial. – Vrinda Singh