Bombay Scottish gave the Geography question paper to its students in an examination in January; ICSE board says it has initiated an inquiry into the matter and will take action accordingly
Students of ICSE board who took their Geography exam on Wednesday were in for a rude shock after they found out that the questions asked in the paper were uncannily similar to the questions asked in the preliminary examination in a city school in January.
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While the Bombay Scottish School preliminary examinations for their Std X students took place on January 9, the board exam was held on March 11, and the questions asked in both papers have too many similarities for this to be a coincidence, feel students.
“There is a fine line between a school leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that their students are prepared for the examination, and a school serving up the board question paper to their students. Bombay Scottish School has done the latter and this is unfair to thousands of other ICSE students who worked hard to score well,” said the parent of an ICSE Std X student.
mid-day has copies of both the Bombay Scottish preliminary examination paper as well as the board question paper for Geography and almost 95 per cent of the questions are similar; only some of them have been reframed.
“First we thought it was a joke being circulated through WhatsApp, because it is not possible for a school to have a question paper in January which the board will distribute in March to students across the
country. There definitely seems to be some nexus and we are worried that it will cost us a re-examination,” said an ICSE student from an Andheri school.
“Only some of the questions have been reframed and figures have been changed here or there; most of the paper has been reproduced otherwise,” said another ICSE student. Parents as well as students of other ICSE schools were furious after they made the comparison.
Many took to Twitter and Facebook to share their frustration, and have also been trying to get in touch with the board authorities to clear this matter. Many principals of ICSE schools in the city, too, have received complaints about the same.
School speak
When mid-day contacted Bombay Scottish, Sara Thomas, vice-principal, said, “What do you want me to do about this now? You can verify if the questions were similar. We don’t want to comment on this topic.”
Official speak
Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE), said, “We are initiating an inquiry into this matter and will take measures accordingly. As of now, we can’t take any decision without confirming whether the allegation made by parents and students is true. We can ascertain this once a report is submitted based on the investigations.”
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