A novel method is being adopted in examining candidates of the 10th and the 12th classes by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education). The peculiarity of this new method is that all the candidates do not get the same question papers.
The question papers are made out in three separate sets containing different questions and given to students by turns like the first in the row getting the first set, the second one getting the second set and so on. It has to be realised that with such different sets in the exam, the examination does not remain the same at all. It is like making three artificial groups of students which is neither intended nor justified.
It is beyond one’s comprehension how such an exam, when there is no common platform, can judge relative merits of the candidates? Grading on this basis is neither possible nor reliable. For example if one candidate, who gets one set and does his best, sees after the exam the other set and genuinely feels that he would have fared and scored better with the other set which another candidate got, it is manifestly an injustice to the former.
Unfortunately, the gravity of the situation created by examination of the 10th and the 12th standards of the CBSE by different sets is not fully realised by the candidates, who seem to think that it is a fait accompli (or fate inevitable). Parents on the other hand seem to bask in the satisfaction that their child has got admission to a prestigious school with the high standard of the All India Board. So much so that they seem to be unaware that this onerous method is being adopted for the past few years.
Experimenting any new method of exam by different sets based on same syllabus by carving out categories of students arbitrarily is tantamount to introducing variable standards for the final results. In fact, it is the right of every candidate to be judged by the same standards, by the same yardstick so to say. But by different sets, he is clearly deprived of this right. On getting different sets, different questions being tackled, performance must vary.
Different questions are understandable in Viva Voce or practical papers because in the very nature of things they must differ from person to person. But as far as written tests are concerned, especially when they are conducted at a state level or national level by the boards, same question papers are the only safe guide for judging relative merits of the examinees.
It is true that admissions to certain courses, like medicine, engineering, IIT, etc are given on the basis of a separate common test, but even for entrance to such exam as well as for final admission, the candidates’ overall performance in the board exam is given weightage. And there are several other courses to which candidates are admitted directly on the basis of their marks in the board exam itself.
In these days of competition, even a single mark makes or mars the career of a student and to have such an exam by separate sets is to widen the hiatus.
As it is, the problems of students are already numerous and serious. Why then add to their anxiety and make them vulnerable to further stress and distress, pessimism and frustration? Educationists and concerned authorities should therefore consider the matter with the seriousness it deserves.
