Times of India: Aurangabad: Sunday, June 28, 2015.
The
Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE)
was caught off guard after an advocacy group uploaded the HSC model answers on
its Facebook page for second year in a row.
Sajag Nagarik
Manch, an advocacy group from Pune, has been demanding that the model answers
of the board examinations should be made public for the benefit of the
students. The group accessed the answer keys using the Right to Information
Act.
Model answers
of physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology for the 2015 HSC examination
were put up on their Facebook page. The group had done a similar exercise last
year after the state board refused to make the model answers public.
"Since
the state board, this year, too rejected our demand for uploading model answers
on its website, we obtained it through RTI Act and posted it on our Facebook
page. It is an embarrassment for the MSBSHSE, which has been maintaining that
the model answers are confidential and therefore, cannot be made public.
Needless to say, we will continue with the exercise till the state board
accepts our demand," Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagarik Manch said.
Model answers
are solutions to questions asked in examinations and it is used as a roadmap by
examiners assessing answer sheets. The advocacy group, on the behalf of
thousands of students, has been demanding that these model answers be made
public to help students decide whether to seek photocopies and reevaluation of
marks in case of unsatisfactory results.
MSBSHSE
chairman Gangadhar Mhamane said the policy decision regarding publicizing the
model answers had not been taken yet. When asked about the reason behind delay
considering the two-year-old demand, he said the state board would decide its
stand soon.
"The
MSBSHSE conducts examinations of nearly 400 different subjects every year. It
will be difficult to put model answers of all these examinations on our
website," he said.
Velankar said
the state board, in future, should at least make public model answers of the
important subjects if not of all subjects to pave regime of transparency and
credibility. "To begin with, the state board can upload the model answers
of science subjects for HSC. Based on the pilot project, it can decide about
going ahead with publicizing model answers for other subjects," he said.
The demand
for making model answers public first surfaced after results February-March
2013 examinations. The MSBSHSE had flatly denied any such demand, following
which the group obtained them under the RTI Act. Arguing that model answers
could no longer be termed as confidential, the advocacy group has been publishing
it on its Facebook.
Manasi, an
HSC student from Aurangabad, said MSBSHSE should share model answers with
students, as there was no harm in taking such a step. A science teacher from
local college, requesting anonymity, said it was beyond comprehension why the
state board was sitting on the demand.
"It's
the digital era and the state board website can easily accommodate model
answers of all subjects of SSC and HSC. The board should proactively disclose
all model answers," he said.
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