Over-burdened with requests for re-checking of answer-sheets over the years, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is mulling scrapping the re-evaluation process.
According a CBSE official, the move has been initiated after finding that the number of applications for re-evaluation have increased in the recent years, but there are only a few cases where actual changes take place after re-checking of papers. The students may first apply for rechecking of their marks, if they are not satisfied then they can apply to get a photocopy of the answer sheet and thereafter apply for re-evaluation. “Re-evaluation of answer-sheets is a cumbersome process for both students as well as CBSE. Students apply for re-checking with the hope that they will get more marks in a particular subject, which usually doesn’t happen,” a CBSE official said, adding that as per the norm, final mark-sheet is changed only if there is a deviation of more than 5 marks after re-evaluation.
“In most cases this deviation is never high enough to necessitate a change in the final mark-sheet. Thus the whole process turns into a sheer waste of money for students and unnecessary engagement of CBSE employees,” the official said. CBSE conducts examination in more than 100 subjects but re-evaluation facility is allowed in only eight subjects, which include Hindi, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Business Studies and Economy.
The board conducts two crucial examinations - Class X board and Class XII board, in which over 20 lakh students appear every year. This year, more than 26 lakh students appeared in both the board exams, which is around 6.3 per cent more than last year’s total.
A student has to pay Rs 300 for verification of marks in each subject, while for getting a photocopy of an answer-sheet, the applicant has to pay Rs 700 per paper and for re-evaluation of theory papers one has to pay Rs 100 per question. A student can request re-evaluation of only 10 questions for which they have to pay Rs 1,000.
According to a CBSE official, the board is not considering to scrap the facility of providing photocopies of answer-sheets, but a final decision in this regard has not yet been taken.
As per the process, the CBSE appoints examiners to carry out re-evaluation, which takes a maximum of 20 days. Thereafter, the board provides photocopies of the evaluated answer-sheets displaying re-totalled marks for the subjects applied for, by both class 10 and 12 students.