MPBSE Class 12 boards: Disabled students get extra time, separate paper

Hundreds of disabled students in Madhya Pradesh began their Class 12 board examination on Thursday on a special note as the Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) introduced several measures, including separate question papers and formatted laptops and tablets, to help them write their answers.

Disabled students had to answer a common paper till last year, but the pattern has been kept the same for all the 7,69,000 students taking the Class 12 exam this year.

“In a bid to provide all the facilities and equal opportunity, the board has come up with the decision of providing extra time [of an hour]. We have ensured a gap of at least three days between two papers and that’s why a separate timetable has been introduced for the students,” the education board’s chairperson SR Mohanty said.

The step was taken after a disabled Class 10 student from Balaghat lodged a complaint last year that his right to equality was violated as he was not provided with a writer to take the exam.

Taking a cognizance of the matter, the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission asked the board to provide the basic facilities to such students.

Apart from the 549 Class 12 students, 850 such candidates who will take the Class 10 board exam from March 5 will also be provided with the same facilities.

Mohanty said the board has enforced several measures to stop students from cheating during the exams.

“The board has asked the exam centres’ heads to book students caught using unfair means for a criminal action which means an imprisonment of three years and fine up to Rs 5,000,” he said.

Students were asked to take off their shoes and girls had to remove their jewellery at centres marked as sensitive. Teachers at the exam centres have been also been barred from using mobile phones, tablets and any kind of device.

Nearly 20,00,000 students, including 11,48,000 Class 10 examinees, are appearing for exams conducted by the board.