NEW DELHI: Inundated with requests and pleas from nervous parents and their wards, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday said it will take “remedial measures” before evaluating the Class XII Mathematics paper, described as unusually tough, leaving even the best of minds in tears.
The assurance from the CBSE came even as it denied reports of the paper being leaked in Ranchi and Dhanbad. Separately, the HRD Ministry clarified that it had examined reports of the paper being available in advance to students in Ranchi and Dhanbad and that the allegations were incorrect.
As social media was flooded with complaints and rumours about the paper, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said in Parliament that he has sought HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s intervention going by the feedback from the students. What has worried the students is that the paper, considered mark fetching, could bring down their percentage. “Certain questions were very tough and even bright students couldn’t answer them effectively,” Naidu said, adding the matter needs enquiry.
“Even the section that was to have 10 easy one-mark questions took us over 30 minutes (to finish). In the end, I could not complete my paper,” said a Class XII student from Patna.
Another Delhi-based student said he revised last 10 years’ papers while preparing. “I was pretty confident, but the questions stumped me,” he said.
The student grievances in social media ranged from the paper being too lengthy to questions being difficult even for the studious.
Incidentally, last year, the CBSE had to review the Math paper after similar complaints, and had provided relaxation in the marking for the paper.
The pleas of anxious students echoed in Lok Sabha with several members raising the issue. N K Premchandran (RSP) and K C Venugopal (Congress) said most questions in the paper were “very difficult”, and 80% of the questions were out of syllabus.
While even bright students in South India found the questions very tough, there were press reports of the paper being leaked in North India, Venugopal said. Alleging a conspiracy, he asked the HRD Ministry to intervene.
Feedback to go to expert committee
The CBSE said in a statement “feedback received from various stakeholders, including students, teachers and examiners, will be placed before the committee of subject experts and the board will take remedial measures before evaluation”. However, it did not elaborate on the remedial measures being contemplated.