Telegraph
India: Calcutta: Wednesday, 04 March 2020.
Madhyamik
examiners will have to write a note after every question in which they award
less than full marks.
If,
for instance, a question carries four marks and an examinee is marked three,
the examiner will have to write a note below that particular answer explaining
the reasons for deducting one mark, a senior official of the state secondary
board, which conducts the exams, said on Tuesday.
Questions
requiring long-form answers have been done away with in almost all subjects in
Madhyamik. Most questions are divided into several parts and the marks allotted
for each part is mentioned.
Examinees
are expected to mention certain points for every part of the answer and
examiners are supposed to award full marks if all the necessary points are
mentioned in the answer.
The
board had noticed in the previous years that examiners would tick an answer
right but not award full marks. This year the board has made it clear in its
instructions to the examiners that if an answer is correct and yet full marks
are not awarded, the reason for deduction of marks must be explained.
An
examiner who evaluates the English second language paper told Metro that if a
student was required to mention five points for a five-mark question and the
examiner wanted to give three marks, he or she would have to specify which two
points were missing in the answer.
If
marks are deducted for reasons such as grammatical error or poor writing skill,
the examiner will have to mention that in the note below the answer, the
teacher said.
The
Madhyamik examinations ended on February 27 this year. Evaluation of the answer
scripts will begin on March 6. More than 10 lakh examinees have written the
test this year.
The
decision asking examiners to specify the reasons for deducting marks has been
taken for the first time, an official of the West Bengal Board of Secondary
Education said.
The
move is aimed at reducing the number of court cases and applications to see
answer scripts under the right to information (RTI) act, the official said.
Every
year, over 2,500 students apply for rechecking of answer scripts under the RTI
act and more than 10,000 apply for the post-publication review of answer
scripts.
The
number of applications for post-publication review of answer scripts has been
increasing by the year, the official said. The number of applications seeking
permission to see the answer scripts under the RTI act is also on the rise, he
said.
In
many cases, the students’ allegations were found to be true and marks were
increased after re-evaluation of answer scripts.
Many
aggrieved students would also file a case in court challenging the marks
awarded to them.
The
board has, on several occasions, had to change the merit list of top 10
students.
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