Oops! Teachers make 3,500 errors of 10 marks and above

AHMEDABAD: Nearly 2.5 lakh state board students flunked class 10 maths exam this year. Ironically, scrutiny of the results show that several teachers too have failed miserably in basic maths when it came to totalling of marks!

The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has identified at least 40,000 errors in totalling made by teachers assessing class 10 exam papers. In at least 3,500 cases, these errors involved 10 marks and more, which could have seriously altered the result of a student.

This is more than double the number of such errors reported last year. Board authorities admit that these errors could cause injustice to students if not spotted and rectified while entering data for final results. Nearly 12,000 teachers were engaged to assess answer papers of 11.02 lakh students who appeared for SSC exams this year. Board officials admit that teachers have erred in adding single digit numbers too.

“Teachers have made rampant totalling errors. For instance, 2+3+1is marked 16 instead of 6. Similarly, 4+2+6+3 is marked 34 instead of 15,” an official said.

In other instance of gross negligence, a student has been given 25 marks out of 50 when he actually scored only 2.5 marks. On the other hand, a student who scored 37 marks but is marked only 27, said board officials. “Rising errors by teachers in paper assessment is a cau- se of great concern. Fortunately, totalling is cross-checked during data entry while preparing final results,” said M M Pathan, officer on special duty at GSHSEB.

Gujarat board will summon erring teachers

Last year, 1,237 errors involving more than 10 marks were reported by the board. Teachers, who attributed the errors mainly to haste in paper correction, had coughed up Rs 6.67 lakh as fine for the mistakes paying Rs 50 per one mark error. “We will summon the teachers who have made totalling mistakes and answer sheets will also be shown to them to prompt them to be more careful next year," a top board official said.

President of Gujarat Secondary Teacher's Association (GSTA) Ramesh Patel said: “Teachers err mainly in totalling and forgetting to assess a question. Teachers should be extremely careful in paper checking as it involves future of the students. This is the reason why we had not sided with teachers when they were imposed fines".