HC to CBSE: Why do away with re-evaluation of answer papers

“Why should you do away with re-evaluation?” This was a query put to the CBSE by the Delhi High Court after being shown answer sheets where correct responses to questions had been awarded zero marks.

A bench of justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and A K Chawla asked the CBSE to explain such “apparent errors” in evaluation, saying if it happens with only one student, then too that person’s career would be put at stake.

The remark by the court came in response to the claim of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jain, that the number of errors in evaluation were minuscule, which is why re-evaluation was done away with.

Not convinced by the CBSE’s argument, the court asked it, whether, for an instance, one can rely on evaluation by a Maths teacher who cannot even correctly total the marks awarded.

This assumes significance as there were news reports recently which said that the CBSE had made errors in totalling of marks awarded to several students in various subjects, including Maths, and the mistakes were brought out when reverification was opted for.

The bench asked the Board to file on record its governing body and examination committee’s reasoning behind the decision of October last year and listed the matter for hearing on June 23.

It also asked the CBSE to explain how zero marks were awarded to one of the students when the answer was correct as per the marking scheme.

The court’s observations came while hearing several pleas by students, who gave the board exams this year, against the CBSE’s decision to scrap its re-evaluation policy. The students have also sought parity with an Orissa High Court order directing CBSE to re-evaluate the answer sheets of 150 students of that state.

The Orissa High Court order had come after a CBSE lawyer there had submitted that the re-evaluation policy was still in existence.

On Wednesday, CBSE told Delhi HC that the Orissa HC would be setting up a special bench to hear the board’s plea.