In a major goof-up centre in Madurai gets question papers in Hindi

MADURAI: In a major embarrassment for the CBSE officials, the Noyes Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Madurai, received 100 question papers in Hindi. As per CBSE guidelines, NEET was to commence at 10 am across the nation, while the students are allowed entry inside the centres between 7.30 am and 9.30 am. In view of this, parents along with their children began to flock the centres as early as 5 am.

Of the 20 examination centres in Madurai district, the examination began on time in 19 centres except this one. Talking about the delay, E Georgina Jacquline, principal of the school said, “The centre was allotted to accommodate 720 students. Of them, 681 appeared for the exam at the stipulated time.We opened the three boxes of bilingual (Tamil/English) question papers minutes before the exam as per instructions from the CBSE and it was only during distribution that we discovered that the third box contained 100 question papers in Hindi/English.”

This came at a time when the students in 26 of the 30 examination rooms already received question papers in Tamil/English and most of the students at this centre were from Tamil medium.“The officials of the CBSE, when contacted, admitted their mistake and instructed us to take photocopies of the question papers of the absentees. Equipped with only one functional machine, we struggled to take copies of question papers that had 42 pages each,” added the principal.

Later, 22 students were made to write NEET from 12.30 m, with a 2.5-hour delay while 90 took up the exam from 3 pm, a 5-hour delay. Students who came out at 3.30 pm said that they were given snacks and juice as they waited until 12.30 pm and lunch packs when they finished the exam. Students who began at 3 pm were provided lunch before they started.

As instructed, the management retained the photocopied question papers instead of returning them to the students and obtained signatures from the affected students in an acknowledgement statement regarding the delay. Meanwhile, parents grew anxious and agitated over the delay while some worried about possibilities of question paper leak.

About 10 members of the SFI staged a protest outside the school, raising slogans seeking to ban NEET. They were whisked away by the police. It was an ordeal said R Selvam, a construction worker from Thirupaalaikudi in Ramanathapuram district, who along with his wife and daughter Mohana Priya reached Madurai at 12.30 am on Sunday and waited till dawn at the M G R Bus Stand in Mattuthavani bus stand with no known place to take shelter and unable to afford a lodge.

“We reached the centre at 5 am and our daughter went in at 8.30 am. We were worried when she did not come out at 1 pm. We along with the other parents went inside the school. It was only then when the management informed us of the fiasco. Wanting to check on my kids, I and a few other parents went straight to the examination hall and spoke to her for a few minutes as was allowed by the authorities.”