THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The rules for the conduct of higher secondary examination in schools in the state are not being followed in unaided schools in the Gulf region that follow the state syllabus, the response to a Right To Information (RTI) query has revealed.
According to the revised higher secondary examination manual, only senior teachers of government schools shall be appointed as chief superintendents in unaided schools in the state. However, in the eight unaided schools in the Gulf region, the principals of these institutions act as the senior-most official in charge of examination in the school, says the RTI response from the General Education Department.
The exam manual lays down that it is the chief superintendent who supervises and controls the deputy chief superintendents, invigilators and external examiners. Even though senior teachers from government and aided schools in the state are deployed as deputy chief superintendents in schools in the Gulf region, the higher secondary manual is silent about the criteria for their selection.
The response to the RTI application, filed by S Manoj of Aided Higher Secondary School Teachers' Association, also revealed that for practical exams, teachers from one school in the Gulf region are assigned en-masse as external examiners to another school and vice-versa. This has raised questions about the fairness of the exercise.
It should be noted that while conducting the practical examination in unaided schools in the state, only government school teachers are chosen for the task and assigned on a random basis to these schools to ensure fairness.
In another startling revelation, the RTI response said the higher secondary directorate does not have the name and details of the teachers who are deployed as invigilators for the exams in schools in the Gulf region.
'Adequate measures adopted'
Meanwhile, SS Vivekanandan, Secretary, Board of Higher Secondary Examinations, maintained that sufficient checks and balances are in place to ensure that no malpractices are carried out in the examinaitons held in schools in the Gulf region.
"In such schools, the question papers are kept in the Embassy concerned, brought to the school on the day of the exam and opened in the presence of the deputy chief superintendent who is a senior government or aided school teacher deployed from the state," he said. He added that no complaints of any malpractices have yet been reported from any of these institutions.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
# Higher secondary exam rules not followed for schools in the Gulf region
# Principals of unaided institutions don the role of chief superintendent of exams
# No specific criteria for selection of deputy chief superintendents from the state
# External examiners of a school deployed en-masse to another school and vice-versa
# Measures in place to check any irregularities, says higher secondary exam board