CBSE NOT TO HOLD RETEST FOR CLASS 10 MATHEMATICS

NEW DELHI: The CBSE will not conduct a retest of the Class 10 mathematics exams, the HRD ministry’s secretary Anil Swarup said on Tuesday. “Consequent to the preliminary evaluation of the impact of reportedly leaked CBSE class 10 maths paper and keeping in mind the paramount interest of students, CBSE has decided not to conduct re-examination even in the states of Delhi NCR and Haryana. Hence, no re-exam for class 10,” Swarup said on Twitter.

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has decided not to conduct a retest for the Class 10 mathematics exam after a random evaluation of answer sheets showed that the performance of students had not improved even though there was evidence of the question paper leaking on social media, senior government officials said on Tuesday.

Officials argued that a random analysis of answer sheets showed that the leak was “limited” and there was no need to put 1.4 million students through a retest because of a breach from which only a few may have benefited. The CBSE had earlier announced that the math exam would be held again across the country sometime in July after reports of leaks had emerged in Delhi, Haryana and Jharkhand.

The Class 12 economics exam, however, will be conducted again on April 25 after investigations revealed that its question paper had surfaced on social media in at least two separate leaks.

“We have analysed the impact of the (Class 10 math) answer sheets which clearly indicates that the performance this year despite the limited leak has gone down. This shows that there is no change in the outcome so we decided to take a decision in the overall interest of the 14 lakh students, not to go for a retest. In any case, implications of Class 10 exams in terms of future of the child are not as grave as in Class 12. Hence, it was not found advisable to put these many children to inconvenience for no fault of theirs,” Anil Swarup, secretary (school education) in the HRD ministry, said on Tuesday.

A government official said on condition of anonymity that the findings had shown that the pass percentage in the Delhi region was 89.36 this year com- pared to last year’s 93.62.

In Panchkula, it was 84.77 this year compared to last year’s 99.18. In Patna region, which parts of Jharkhand fall under, the pass percentage was 73.55 this year compared to last year’s 98.93, he added. The analysis was based on a review of 1,000 answer sheets from the three regions to find a trend.

“We will still carry out a detailed analysis and examine all the copies with last year’s result to see if there are centres which show unusual trends and action will definitely be taken against them,” said a CBSE official.

“Action will be taken against students if there is evidence that they were direct beneficiaries of the leak.”

The government has constituted a high-powered committee, comprising experts, under chairmanship of V S Oberoi, former (higher education secretary), MHRD. “…to examine the process of conduct of CBSE exams and suggest measures to make it secure and foolproof through the use of technology,” Swarup tweeted. A report will be submitted by May 31.

ONLY A FEW MAY HAVE BENEFITED, NO NEED TO PUT 1.4 MILLION THROUGH A RETEST, SAY CBSE OFFICIALS