Mathematics retest demand

Patna: A handful of Class X CBSE students protested in front of the CBSE regional office on Saturday demanding re-exam of the class X mathematics paper.

Secretary of school education and literacy, Anil Swarup, on Friday had ruled out the pan-India mathematics re-test for class X CBSE exam claiming that the leak was limited to Delhi and Haryana and if the examination was to be held again, it would be confined to Delhi and Haryana. Swarup said the fresh class XII economics exam would be held on April 25.

The class X students, who took part in the protest in Patna, had covered half their faces with black cloths. They claimed that the mathematics question paper was circulated to them a day before the exam. “Why only the exam would be held in Delhi and Haryana? The paper was leaked here in Patna also. So why the CBSE is not conducting a re-test of the paper here,” said a student.

The students held placards with messages like “CBSE stands for complete bullshit system education”, “We are the future of India, don’t play with us” and others.

The students said they would again assemble in front of the CBSE office on Monday and would conduct a similar protest on that day also.

Meanwhile, the mock drill for the online distribution of question papers was conducted for a second time at the CBSE examination centres here in the state capital on Saturday. The first mock drill was conducted at the city schools on Thursday. Sources from city’s examination centres said Saturday’s mock drill was conducted in CBSE examination centres in a similar way it was earlier conducted on Thursday.

A uniform resource locator (URL) was sent by CBSE on the registered email/mobile number of the centre superintendents. The centres had to open the URL and log in by using the password. Two passwords were sent to the centres. One for downloading the question paper and another for opening the question paper. The passwords were sent in a fixed time. The centres were asked to be attentive during a particular time so that they can access the password and further open and download the question papers. Soon after receiving the password, the centres had to log in to download the question paper and then they had to take out the printout of the paper, said the examination centre sources.

“Today in the second mock drill also, we were asked about the time we took in downloading and further taking out printouts of the question paper. While in Thursday’s first mock drill, two separate set of question papers were given to us, today only one set of question paper was given and we were asked to report the time which we took in taking out 150 printouts of the question paper. We took two minutes’ time in taking out each printout of question paper that consisted of six pages,” said the source.

Sources said the CBSE had earlier asked centre superintendents of examination centres to arrange for six high-density printers but many of them have communicated to the CBSE that they don’t have high density printers.

Courtesy: The Telegraph