An evaluation of OMR sheets of candidates who wrote a test in 2015 for recruitment of teachers at the upper primary level (Classes VI to VIII) in state government-aided schools has revealed a mismatch of marks in close to 1,000 cases.
What the candidates actually scored was less than what the results showed, said an official of the West Bengal School Service Commission, which conducted the review.
The commission had earlier decided to scan over 14,000 answer scripts following complaints of marks mismatch at several levels, which led to the sacking of many teaching and non-teaching employees in secondary schools.
“Of the 14,052 OMR sheets that were reviewed, marks mismatch was detected in over 1,000 cases,” the commission official said.
WBSSC chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar declined comment.
Subires Bhattacharyya, who was arrested last September in connection with allegedly illegal recruitments in schools, was the commission chairperson when the 14,000-odd candidates wrote the teachers’ eligibility test (TET) in 2015.
A WBSSC official said they decided to undertake a fresh scan of the answer scripts before calling the candidates who had cracked the test for counselling.
The commission will submit an affidavit in Calcutta High Court next week providing details about the mismatch of marks.
From the pool of the TET-qualified candidates, around 12,400 candidates had been interviewed in June 2021. Another 1,585 candidates were called for an interview in November 2022.
As a follow-up to the interview, the commission was supposed to come up with a merit list based on the scores of the written test and interviews and issue letters of recommendation through counselling.
“But we decided to re-evaluate the OMR sheets, taking lessons from what happened with the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff in secondary schools. The reassessment revealed a mismatch of marks in around 1,000 cases. Inflated marks were uploaded on the commission’s server,” the WBSSC official said.
“The scores of the candidates stored on the commission’s server are more than the marks they should have got, going by the responses captured on the OMR sheets. If ordered, we will upload the difference of marks on the our website.”
Why is the commission not disqualifying the 1,000-odd candidates?
“In recent times, the court has decided on cases where manipulation of marks was detected. So it would be prudent to bring the mismatch of marks at the upper primary level to the notice of the court,” the official said.
The WBSSC had hired an agency for the reassessment. “The agency was not the same as the one that assessed the OMR sheets the first time,” the official said.
Examinees with chits ‘beat up’ headmaster
Malda: A group of students appearing in the HS exam in Malda allegedly assaulted the headmaster on Thursday when invigilators tried to stop them from cheating during the exam. The headmaster, who sustained injuries, has filed a police complaint.
Sources said that students of Bangitola High School in Kaliachak-II block, were sitting for the exams from Rathbari High School in the same block. On Thursday, as the English (second language) exam started, invigilators found chits on some students.
Samannoy Sarkar, the headmaster walked into the hall and snatched some chits from one of them.
This angered the boys and they attacked the headmaster, sources said.
SOUMYA DE SARKAR
