Teachers appeared to have used guesswork to evaluate blurry scanned copies of CBSE Class XII answer scripts under the new on-screen marking (OSM) system, leaving many meritorious students with low scores, two principals have alleged.
A parent on Tuesday said her son did not get the marks he deserved in maths because some of his answers were blurred in the scanned copy. The student has applied for re-evaluation and is waiting for the results.
“We noticed that some answers had fetched unexpectedly low marks. Those answers were not legible in the scanned copy. My son got 93, but he was expecting 100 in maths. He has applied for re-evaluation. We hope his score will improve, but the excitement and celebration he missed on result day will remain as a void forever,” the parent said.
Despite receiving several indistinct scanned copies under OSM, teachers had to evaluate them by “guessing the answers”, two principals said. They said the evaluators were exhausted and did not want to reject the illegible copies and wait for the properly scanned ones. In some centres, Internet connectivity was poor and downloading the papers took time. The principals also blamed pressure from the CBSE for submitting the corrected papers within the deadline.
“Many of the scanned copies were partly blurred. It means the initial pages were fine, but the later ones were illegible. In such cases, evaluators have given an average marking. Some may not have given any marks, mentioning the questions as 'not attempted'. This has contributed to the low scores of many well-performing students,” said one of the principals, who did not wish to be identified.
The OSM technology was new to the teachers, who did not receive proper training and were not comfortable with the transition, the principals said.
“The regional office of the CBSE was in touch with evaluation centres and was putting pressure on completing the evaluation on time without bothering much about the quality of the scanned copies,” the principal said.
She said average marking helped average students get better scores, but high achievers lost out. “This is what has happened in the Class XII assessment this year. Another reason for the average marking was the low Internet connectivity, which delayed downloads. It was highly frustrating for the evaluators,” she said.
The other principal said the evaluators were paid ₹45 per answer script by the CBSE. When evaluators encounter blurry pages after checking more than 75 per cent of the answer script, they choose to go ahead with the evaluation or else their effort would be wasted, the principal added.
“Some teachers may have thought that rejecting a copy after marking 75 per cent of the answers would mean a waste of time and effort and they would not get their remuneration. Evaluators may have given average marks or no marks in such cases,” she said.
“My suggestion is that the evaluators should be encouraged to reject answer scripts even if they find one paragraph to be blurred. They should be paid in full, and the money should be taken from the service provider as a penalty,” she added.
The CBSE has started the process of re-evaluation of answer scripts as demanded by over 1.6 lakh students. The board has stopped using service provider COEMPT’s portal for re-evaluation and is doing it through its own portal. Every marked answer which has been challenged is being sent to two teachers for review, the principal said.