Mistakes, wrong questions stump HSC students on Day 1
| Date :22-Feb-2023 |
Staff Reporter
On the first day of HSC examination that began on Tuesday with English paper, students had to face a bizarre situation. While writing the answers, the students got confused on most occasions as either the questions were absent, or were wrong or had spelling mistakes. An 80-mark theory paper of English was held on Tuesday. There were 10 marks for Question 3 (A) and 4 marks for 3 (B). Question 3 (A) had A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5 all carrying two marks each. A-1 was regarding arranging the sentence in correct order while in A-2, drawing was given, which was to be described. The question A-3 read-- Accept any reasonably correct answer. There was only one line written there.
No matter was given either beside or below the question. Some students at some centres asked the invigilators but they too could not help the students. Same thing happened with Question A-4 ‘Poetic Devices: The figure of speech-- ‘Inversion’ the word order is changed for rhyme. Correct order should be: ‘The Rover could hear one dreadful sound.’ This question too bewildered the students. A student Lawanya Verma at Shivaji Science said, “It confused me as I could not differentiate as to whether it was a question or an answer. In fact, the sentence ‘The Rover could hear one dreadful sound’ is the answer of Question 3 A-1 (d) where students had to rearrange the sentences. In A-5, the content was ‘Composing lines: (Accept any reasonable correct answer/lines)’. Again nothing was given along with the question.
Giving his expert comment Sapan Nehrotra, English Subject expert at Jupiter Science Junior College told ‘The Hitavada’, “Because of wrong questions, students are afraid of losing the marks. From my experience, as I have worked as a valuer, these questions were the specimen answers to be provided to the persons who do evaluation. I personally feel that students should not face any academic loss. State Board should give them full 6 marks. It is surprising that in State Board examinations, the question paper with lot of errors was distributed to students. These were not the typo mistakes.” According to Nehrotra, it should have been ‘raven tress’, which means ‘Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.’
Most students and parents have demanded that students should get full 6 marks. According to a senior Board official who on condition of anonymity said, “This is a blunder and Board is likely to take cognisance. We will take care that no student should suffer for the mistake of the Board. As per the rule, students should have attempted the question then only they are eligible to get the marks even if their answer is wrong. But this case is very different so all those who have appeared in the examination would get the six marks,” he believes.
Anil Shivankar, Nagpur Divisional President of Bharatiya Janata Party Shikshak Aghadi, said, “The mistake that appears in the paper is unpardonable. This incident is a blot on the reputation of State Board. Since the mistake is on part of Board, students should not suffer, even if they have not attempted the question, they should get full six marks.”