More madhyamik woes

Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, February 26, 2007
There were complaints by students again at the madhyamik exams on Monday. This time it was the turn of the Bengali version of the Physical Science paper. Students claimed that some of the instructions that were given were confusing
The trouble was that students following the Bengali version of the question paper were not sure how many questions they had to answer. From the instructions, it appeared that the students had to answer 18 questions combining groups B, C and D apart from the questions from group A, which is compulsory. On reading the English version it becomes clear that the students have to answer only 10 questions from groups B, C and Ds.
“The Bengali instructions were very confusing. I cross-checked with the English version and then proceeded to write my answers,” said Binoy Ojha, student of Bijoynagar High School.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) officials have expressed regret at the continuing goof-ups but did not say whether any concrete steps would be taken against those who were responsible for the mistakes.
The question papers prepared by the subject experts goes to the moderators, who correct the language used in the questions, ensure that the questions are from the prescribed syllabus and also make sure that the paper follows the pattern of model questions given by the board to the students. After the moderation is done, proofreaders crosscheck the manuscript question with its printed version.
But teachers feel that too much political influence in the administration of the board has led to compromise in quality. “There is too much political influence when it come to selecting the paper setters and moderators. We feel it has influenced the infrastructure and quality checking of the question papers. Since we are finding repeated mistakes it is becoming clear that moderators and paper setters have not been responsible about their duty,” said Subhankar Bandhyopadhyay, general secretary of Secondary Teachers and Employees Association.
Swapan Sarkar, secretary of the board, has expressed regret about the incident but failed to explain whether any concrete steps would be taken to check such mistakes. “We will definitely find out how such mistakes have happened and will ensure that they are not repeated next time. The paper setters are all respected and senior teachers and we cannot straight away take disciplinary action against them. But we will decide what can be done only after the exams are over,” Sarkar said.
A parent attacked Sahana Palit, principal of Deshopran Shasmal Balika Vidyalay, after the guardian had complained against the tough question paper. Palit’s car was vandalised and she lodged a complaint with the Tollygunge police station and has also complained about the matter to WBBSE.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com