HYDERABAD: THE Intermediate examination muddle could not have come at a worse time for the TRS which was in a celebration mood, hoping a rich harvest of Lok Sabha seats in the general elections. The bungling by the board (TSBIE) has for the first time knocked the stuffing out TRS’ argument that it is infallible in governance. It came as a painful reminder that it could not keep the board officials on a tight leash and make them responsible for the omissions and commissions allegedly by Globarena Technologies which took care of the technical end of the examinations.
As the number of the suicides by the students keep increasing -- it has already crossed 20 -- a sense of disquiet is prevailing in the ruling camp as the intermediate debacle came as a hard knock to not only to the credibility of the board but also to the image of the government.
In its anxiety to quell the trouble -- the manifestation of the anger of the Intermediate students -- the board had taken measures that only added fuel to the fire. For instance, the decision to requisition the police to deal with the harmless students who were only trying to a find a release to their bottled up emotions at the gates of the office of the intermediate board.
The police who know only the brutal aspect of dealing with any sensitive situation did what is expected of them. They dealt with the students as if they were criminals, handled them roughly, dragged them on the road to the waiting police vans and bundled them in. This only further inflamed the passions against the board, galvanising the students’ unions affiliated to opposition parties and the parties themselves, into further intensifying the agitation.
To students’ rescue
As the agony of the students over the Board certifying their performance at the examinations as below par unfolded at not only the office of the Intermediate Board but also at Pragati Bhavan and Secretariat, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao did what was expected of him. He reviewed the situation, sending out a message that the situation would not be allowed to drift. He went to the rescue of the students by announcing that the answer sheets of all the students who had failed would be valued afresh free of cost which had to some extent come as the much-needed balm to the aggrieved parents and their children.
The three-member committee, constituted by the government to suggest measures to stem the rot that had set in at all the echelons of the administration of the board, has identified certain gray areas in the conduct of the examination and the announcement of results. It is understood to have pointed out that lack of effective supervision of the board officials on Globarena had led to the present mess.
The CM, in fact, had thrown up an idea of entrusting the conduct of the examinations to an autonomous body by doing away with the present system to prevent a repeat of the fiasco like the one that has happened now, but the educationists believe that there was no guarantee that even this measure would not end up with a number of gray areas creeping in, once again. What they suggest is that the board should have officials who are committed to their work and have full freedom to exercise control over Globarena or for that matter any company which is asked to handle the technical aspects the examination.
Paying a price
Educationists say that it is not as though the government does not know that education is a subject that needs be handled efficiently since it affects students’ future careers. But this crucial area had been neglected and the government is paying a very high price in the form of the lives of students.
Disbanding board, which is being contemplated now, might not be an answer to the problem since no one would advise setting a house on fire just because there are a few rats in it. The educationists feel that the government, if it has the will, could monitor the functioning of the board from close quarters so that the students would not have to pay the price for no mistake of theirs.