CHENNAI: There were 49 translation errors out of 180 questions in the Tamil NEET question paper, pointed Tech4All, a city-based NGO that provides tech solutions for social problems. For example, the Tamil word for type is 'ragam', while the test paper said 'nagam' which means fingernail.
Some words were just the Tamil spellings of English words. The phrase 'Chief Cells' was simply spelt in Tamil and the word Cheetah was not translated as 'Siruthai' in Tamil, but instead simply spelt in Tamil.
"Students who took the test in Tamil should get a total of 196 points as grace marks accounting for these mistakes," said G B Ram Prakash, the founder of the NGO adding that CBSE assured Supreme Court last year that errors would not be repeated in regional language question paper.
"Students can overlook a few errors, but 49 errors are too much to decode given that they get the same time as other students," he said.
A disclaimer in the first page of the question paper alerts students that if there are ambiguity in the translation, the English version would be treated as final. Students who take up the question paper in Tamil however don't stand a fair chance, said Prakash.
"There are no CBSE textbooks in Tamil. When the standardised words don't appear in the test paper, particularly if it's a technical word, students will be thrown off balance," he said adding that the long-term solution would be to print CBSE textbooks in Tamil.
Officials in the regional CBSE department said that they did not have any involvement with NEET, while Express could not reach the NEET officials in Delhi through repeated phone calls.
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