Parents, students can finally obtain copies of assessed answer sheets of SSC, HSC board exams, but only after signing document stating they won't ask for revaluation if they suspect errors; board chief doesn't think placing such a condition defeats purpose of move, says decision in keeping with law
Parents, students can finally obtain copies of assessed answer sheets of SSC, HSC board exams, but only after signing document stating they won't ask for revaluation if they suspect errors; board chief doesn't think placing such a condition defeats purpose of move, says decision in keeping with law
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You cannot have your cake and eat it too. The plight of thousands of SSC and HSC students is no different.
Years of activism by parents using the tools of RTI Act and scuttling in and out of court have got the state education board to finally relent on sharing photocopies of answer sheets with the candidates.
Hobson's choice: Even if students or parents notice any errors in the
correction of answer sheets or the marks allotted to them, they will not
be able to question or point it out to the board. Representation pic
But here's the catch. Before the students can pore over the corrected copies of their answer scripts, their parents will have to sign a document stating they will not ask for correction or revaluation. This means the parents have no right to complain if they notice anything amiss in the corrections.
Take it or leave it: MSBSHSE chairperson Ujjwaladevi Patil says there is
nothing unfair about the decision to not entertain requests for revaluation.
File pic
"Yes this is true, and there is nothing unfair about this decision," said Ujjwaladevi Patil, chairperson of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE). "According to the instructions given to us and as per law, we are going to carry this out. The copies of answer sheets are being given for the satisfaction of students and parents, and not to point out errors as our examiners are doing a good and honest job."
She said that many parents had complained that the answer papers being evaluated were not of their wards or that the students had written exceptionally good papers, but the marks were so low that it did not match expectations.
"This decision to give copies would help settle their claims that paper is not theirs or help to show parents what answers students have written. There is no question of parents commenting on the examiners or the marks given," said Patil.
Every year lakhs of students appear for the HSC and SSC examinations and board members are worried that if parents are given the right to question the marks allotted, then declaring results and revaluations would become a never-ending exercise.
"The burden would be just impossible to handle and that's why this is the right decision," said a staff member of the MSBSHSE.
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