Council of Higher Secondary Education

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 6: An inordinate delay in providing model question papers for the upcoming Plus Two board exams has put students in a spot of bother.

Apart from English, sample question papers in no other subject have so far been made available online.

Around 3 lakh students from 1,300 junior colleges are scheduled to appear for the annual exam in science, arts, commerce in March 2014. Incidentally, the exam material has been posted on the website of the higher education department (www.dheorissa.in) instead of the website of the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) as announced earlier.

As part of the exam reforms, it has been decided that the paper would consist of 70 per cent objective and 30 per cent subjective-type questions. However, students are yet to get a clear picture in this regard.

Sanatan Behera, father of a Plus Two student, today reached the council office only to return disappointed.

“I wanted to know when the question papers would be provided and how we can collect them. My daughter is preparing for the board exams and wants to pursue technical education thereafter. Since Plus Two marks have become more crucial for JEE admission, we are very worried,” he said.

Many other parents and students, who reached the office for an enquiry, met the striking employees of the CHSE employees’ union. The employees have been on a weeklong strike protesting against the government’s decision of imposing additional cost of Plus Two exams on the council.

The association members said that the council had been conducting the board exams for last 28 years with the money charged from students as exam fee. However, in view of the exam reforms, the overall cost would increase by almost Rs 7 to 8 crore, which the council is expected to bear.

Though the CHSE has decided to extend the last date for filling up of forms for Plus Two exams to December 9, the strike threatens to affect work related to processing forms.

CHSE Employees’ Association president Abhiram Khatua said the council’s sole source of income was the exam fees collected from students. “If the council bears the additional expenses, it would have to compromise on salaries and other monetary benefits of the employees. When the government brought about the reform, it should pay for it too. Otherwise, there is no need to change the exam process,” added Khatua.

In another development, the delay has sparked resentment among teachers as well. “The new model question papers should be released as soon as possible as it would help us guide students accordingly and help them get acquainted with it,” said Purbasha Pattnaik, a teacher.

“The exams will be held in March. We are planning to release the sample papers as soon as possible. Students need not worry,” said CHSE chairman Basudev Chhatoi.

The exam reforms were introduced following 2013 board question leak in physics and chemistry for which the exams of nearly 77,000 students were rescheduled. The changes include a 32-page stitched answer paper, increased number of objective questions, and four separate sets of question papers to minimise cheating incidents. All sets will have same questions, but in a jumbled manner.