The Board exam season is here. False claims about lenient marking/checking and speculation about possible question paper leaks are doing the rounds.
According to a report by The Financial Express, this year’s Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 12 Physics paper has been labelled the ‘toughest ever’ by students who have already started online petitions for ‘lenient marking’. However, this conundrum has given rise to claims on WhatsApp groups that say CBSE has agreed to be student friendly in their checking and scoring of the paper.
WhatsApp Forward Promises ‘Lenient Marking’
In a latest incident, Shweta Prasad, a Class 12 student at a defence school from Pune, reached out to WebQoof claiming that she, her friends and teachers have received messages about an ‘easy evaluation’ of answer scripts of Physics papers on their WhatsApp group.
The WhatsApp forward, also shared with The Quint, categorically mentions that the question paper has been analysed by CBSE experts and they have found the question paper moderately tough and difficult to complete within a span of 3 hours.
“There is no fault of the students if the paper was lengthy. We have found Physics Set-I and Set-II had two questions of 3 marks and one question (of) 2 marks with inappropriate data or maybe (these were) new for the students. (The) Board will definitely keep students' future and career in mind and (we) decided to appreciate 8 marks for these respected sets as grace only if students have even tried to attempt any of these questions. We found Set-III question paper not so difficult (that included) almost all NCERT questions, but (it was) somewhat lengthy. The marking scheme will be lenient and student-centred,” the WhatsApp forward read.
However, when The Quint reached out to senior officials at CBSE, they refuted any such development on the decisions by the Board on the marking scheme front.
“The said message and claims appear fake and fabricated,” the official spokesperson of CBSE told The Quint, confirming that the Board has not decided to make any announcement on the marking scheme for CBSE’s Physics paper for Class 12.
Fake and False News to Create Panic, Confusion: CBSE
The clarification by CBSE comes on the heels of a public advisory issued recently by the Board urging people to not fall prey to fake articles and claims suggesting that the question paper has been leaked.
The advisory by CBSE read, “Few cases of fake and false news in circulation with the intention to thwart the good efforts of the Board and to create panic and confusion among the students and public are being noticed. Suffice is to say that such news is circulated by unscrupulous persons for personal and professional gains.”
With a spike in fake claims on question papers, CBSE officials have filed an FIR and have also requested the Delhi Police, in writing, to take suitable and strict action.
“The public is hereby informed to remain vigilant (and) calm in all situations. The public is expected to cooperate with the Board in dealing with such unsolicited situations,” the CBSE’s advisory read.
(With inputs from The Financial Express)
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