MNAGALURU: In a serious lapse from the
department of public instruction in
Dakshina Kannada, around 20
SSLC fresh candidates were given question papers of repeater candidates and vice-versa at an unaided school in
Konaje near here on Friday.
Officials realised the goof-up soon after the examination, called all the students back and conducted a re-exam behind closed doors which ended in the evening. Around 248 candidates had appeared for the examination.
A student, who wrote the exam, told STOI that around 20 fresh candidates from various schools had written the
Kannada examination twice. "Since the examination was tough, I came out of the hall crying and explained to my friends about the difficulty in answering some questions, especially the one for 21 marks. However, they said it was cakewalk for them and when we checked our question papers, we saw the problem. We rushed to our head teacher and told him about it and went home."
"Soon after I reached home, which is about half an hour from the centre, I received a call from the teacher for the re-examination. All the students were called back to the centre and their parents accompanied them. In order to keep the swelling crowd at bay, the guards closed the gate and the examination was held behind closed doors," she explained.
She added that they were not given adequate time. "The re-exam commenced around 2.30pm. As we were writing, the invigilator kept pestering us to finish fast and finally they snatched our papers around 4.10pm without giving ample time to attempt all questions. We're now worried whether will pass," a student said.
A student's father, a daily wage labourer, said his child had to stay at the centre from morning till evening on an empty stomach.
The Kannada subject syllabus was changed this year. However, candidates couldn't figure out the change in the examination paper as not all lessons were changed in the new syllabus. Teachers mentioned that some questions were not from the syllabus at all.
When TOI contacted Y Shivaramaiah, DDPI, Dakshina Kannada, he admitted to the mistake committed by the examination centre. "We have transferred all staff on duty at the centre and deputed new persons. However, no action has been taken," he said.
In Bengaluru, director of exams Sumangala V said she would look into the issue.
Picture for representational purpose only.
