CBSE exam paper leaks: Board needs to get its house in order

Just when lakhs of students across India were preparing to celebrate the end of the most gruelling exam in their school career, the CBSE gave them the shock of their lives. Two exam papers were leaked and most likely sold to some coaching centres. When this news spread like wildfire, the CBSE had no choice but to take cognisance of this collosal and grievous error and announce a re-test for the two most difficult subjects — Economics for Class 12 and Mathematics for Class 10. It is said the Accountancy paper was also leaked and that a fax was sent to the board about the leak, but this appears to have been royally ignored.

Now the CBSE is no ordinary body. It controls the education of lakhs of students in India and quite literaly holds the future of this multitude of students in its hands. This is why it is one of the prime strongholds of the Central government. There is no better way to control the mindsets of the populace than by dictating how and what they study.

The CBSE is controlled by the Central government. The contents of its courses are decided by the NCERT, which is also a body of the Central government. Only NCERT books are used to prepare the students for this most important exam of their student lives. The content in the books is dictated by the ethos of the Central government, through NCERT. Of course, a vote is passed before a topic is given a twist or is deemed controversial. But it is not rocket science to understand that the majority of people who sit on this board are handpicked by the human resources development ministry.

When the government is such a major stakeholder in the CBSE, it is fair to ask why it has allowed the board to lose its sanctity and in doing so, why it has allowed the students who sit for the exams of this board to lose their faith in it?

India is an exam-oriented country, and the amount of stress generated by these exams is mind-boggling. This stress tragically pushes many young lives over the brink. The newspapers have been full of stories of how some students who are disheartened by their results even resort to the ultimate act of taking their lives. In this scary background, the fracas created by these leaked papers is nearly deadly. One can only imagine the kind of tension these children must have been in when they heard that they would have to take a retest. Because some unscruplous people within the board decided to leak the paper for vested intrests.

The nexus between the coaching classes, the publishers of exam papers and perhaps the people who make these papers is a well-known but rarely spoken about ugly fact. The board needs to put in place a foolproof system, which will prevent such a thing from occurring again.

Thousands of children had big plans about what they would do after their exams. Some had waited all their school lives to go for an exchange programme, and their parents saved hard to afford their tickets. These people have all lost big money in the face of this shameful episode. The dissapointment and frustration is killing. The children who will sit for the retest will always wonder if they had done better in the first round, and if they have been cheated of a better aggregate. It is such a pity. The students who have admission deadlines looming over their heads are also in a tizzy.

I marvel at the immense pressure the students are under these days. Examinations in my time seem to be a cakewalk in comparison. The competition was not cut-throat, and the pace of life was easier. Now, if you miss a step, you may find yourself thrown out of the race. It is even more imperative in these times that examinations which are vested with so much value and importance are conducted with the dignity and honesty they deserve.

Instead of giving so much importance to altering history textbooks and re-engineering some truths about the past of the nation, one wishes that the HRD ministry would invest time in inculcating efficiency and honesty in the exam systems. It is legendary how Vinod Joshi, the erstwhile head of CBSE, would lock the examiners in the room while they finalised the results of the board exam, ensuring the least amount of manipulation.

As the PVC of a school, I know how much care we take to ensure the smooth running of our school, and how much we worry about the welfare of our students. We want to give our children the best of the best. Not just us, but a majority of schools think the same way and work round the clock to put their systems in place. Yet, God forbid, if the slightest slip-up happens, we are hauled over the coals like we are common criminals. It’s time the HRD ministry puts its money where its mouth is, and display firm action in taking the people behind this mess to task. Heads must roll and an example must be set.

And certainly, at a time of crisis like this, the offices of the CBSE simply should not be shut for a five-day weekend, leaving countless students and their hapless parents with no answers. One wondered — are these people even for real?

Show us your stuff, Mr Prakash Javadekar, and to quote your boards press release, do it to “… uphold the sanctity of the board examinations and in the interest of fairness to students”.

The CBSE finally did show some sense by not making all students sit for the retest. But later, students sitting for the Class 10 Urdu exam were faced with some disturbing rumours about the exam being cancelled. Zero credibility leads to such stories.

The writer is the chairperson of the AICC grievance cell. The views expressed here are personal.