Marked ‘absent’ for not paying fees, 120 girls fail in Uttar Pradesh boards

BAREILLY: At least 120 girl students failed their class XII Uttar Pradesh board exams allegedly after being marked as absent by their school in Moradabad city after they failed to deposit the fees. Several students TOI contacted said that the financial conditions of their families were not good during the pandemic due to which they couldn’t pay the fees.
The Class X and XII board examinations were cancelled this year. The marking system for the UP board was the same as that of the CBSE. For Class XII, the marks were divided in the ratio of 50:40:10. The board considered 50% marks obtained in Class X, 40% in Class XI and 10% in pre-board. The results were declared on July 31.
The girls and their parents staged a protest outside college as well as at the gate of district magistrate office on Monday, demanding action against the college. The students also demande d that they be marked as present in the exam so that their academic year is not lost.
The Moradabad district administration, meanwhile, has ordered an investigation into the matter.
DM Shailendra Kumar Singh said, “It was brought to the notice that around 70 students, who allegedly didn’t appear in their pre-board exams and were marked “absent”, have failed in the board exams. However, students have claimed that they have failed due to non-payment of fees. They were marked as absent in the exams. A team led by DIOS Arun Dubey will probe the case. Based on the investigation, further course of action will be decided.”
One of the protesting students, Khushi Gautam, said, “Due to the pandemic, we were reeling under a difficult time. Parents of some students had incurred huge losses in businesses, while others had lost their jobs. So most of us could not pay the fees. But we still were preparing and appeared in the pre-board exam. As many as 120 students have failed in the exams. The college told us that we were marked absent due to non-payment of fees.”