'CBSE's Exam Rule Change Puts Future of Urdu Medium Students in Jeopardy'

CBSE has recently proposed not evaluating students writing in a medium other than Hindi or English.

In May, CBSE's examination department proposed a restriction on students writing their board exam answer books in languages other than Hindi or English.

(Image altered by The Quint/Kamran Akhtar)

For students of Kamran MANUU Model School – an Urdu medium school in Bihar's Darbhanga – a recent proposal by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to switch from Urdu to English or Hindi can prove to be detrimental to say the least.

Earlier this year, on 24 May, CBSE's examination department proposed that "answer books of students writing in a medium other than Hindi or English, without prior approval from the board, shall not be evaluated".

It further recommended declaring their results "without awarding any marks".

Screenshot of the proposal by the Education Department of CBSE.

(Accessed by The Quint)

If implemented, this proposal will jeopardise the future of as many as 930 students at Kamran MANUU Model School as well as the two other CBSE-affiliated schools where students take their exams in Urdu – Model School, Falaknuma in Hyderabad and Model School, Nuh in Haryana.

All these three schools come under the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) – a central university founded in 1998 for the promotion of the Urdu language.

The recent proposal will jeopardise the future of as many as 930 students at Kamran MANUU Model School.

(Image accessed by The Quint)

If students are restricted to study only in Hindi and English mediums, then how will you enroll students in higher degree courses at the Urdu university?

MANUU, which offers 93 courses, has students pursuing higher degrees, including doctoral and postgraduate programmes, in the Urdu medium. This restriction will not only hamper the enrollment of students in these courses, but also defeat the entire purpose of establishing the university through an Act of Parliament.

'A Big Challenge to Switch to English or Hindi'

Until 2020, we received question papers in Urdu. But that stopped, and now our students get question papers in Hindi or English, and they write their answers in Urdu. But this latest proposal to write their answers in a language other than Urdu poses a big challenge.

I am not saying that our students don't know or understand Hindi or English. Both these subjects are a part of the curriculum. But students, especially those who have prepared all their other subjects in Urdu for the past 10-12 years, will find it difficult to now switch to writing core subjects in Hindi or English in a matter of a few months.

One needs to understand that students at our school come from fairly weaker sections.

(Image accessed by The Quint)

One needs to also understand that students at our school have fairly weaker financial backgrounds. For them, access to resources required to switch from one medium to another will be a humongous task.

If these students could afford private tuition to switch from one medium to another, they wouldn’t be studying at this school, where education is provided free of cost.

'We're Waiting for Official Communication'

We have neither received an official notification from CBSE nor have we been consulted in the matter. We only found out about this proposal through 'Minutes of 139^th Governing Body Meeting' (dated 24 June) uploaded on the board's official website.

We are unable to understand why this step is taken. There are thousands of teachers and professors of Urdu in the country who are capable of evaluating the answer sheets of the students. If evaluation of the paper is the only concern, then there are several scholars at MANUU, too, who can help do that.

As we await an official communication from the board, I feel confident that CBSE will understand our concerns and address this problem pragmatically.

(The Quint reached out to the Examination Controller at CBSE to find out more about the proposal. The Assistant of the Examination Controller informed us that the matter has been brought up with the chairman. This story will be updated as and when they provide any further clarification.)

(The author is the principal at Kamran MANUU Model School, in Bihar's Darbhanga.)

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