The students who appeared for the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) Classes X and XII Board exams this year have been demanding that the best of their marks in individual subjects obtained over the Terms I and II of the exams should be considered for the final results. Various student organisations and others concerned have also supported the students. Apart from the physical representations sent to CBSE, the students and others have taken to social media to voice their demands and urge CBSE to consider them.
"In the last two years, the quality of education has gone down due to the pandemic. For the academic year 2021-22, CBSE made major changes in its policy. The Term system was introduced. The Term I exam consisted of only MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) and students got about eight months of preparation time for it. But they got only four-five months to prepare for the Term II exam which was subjective in nature. The students also did not get any writing practice, as very few physical classes were held. Though offline classes were announced around the first week of January, very few students attended them and classes were continued in a hybrid mode," said Himanshu Borah, student activist and National President of AIJNSA (All India JEE-NEET Student's Association), explaining the students' problems and the reasons behind this demand.
"Last year, the students received a lot of relief from the CBSE. This year, the same problems still exist. The pandemic is still affecting the education of the students. Offline classes have not been held properly and online classes have not been very effective. So, the demands made by the students are justified. It is a crucial issue and CBSE should definitely consider this. If this is considered, then everyone will be benefitted," he added.
Meanwhile, the Class XII Board examinees have added another reason for strengthening this call for consideration of the best scores from the two Terms. They say that the Class XII exam papers were difficult, especially the Math paper, and thus, it would benefit them if the CBSE concedes to their request.
The issue has gathered the support of many on social media and it has been circulating on different platforms, especially on Twitter. The students even organised campaigns on Twitter to catch the attention of CBSE and other concerned authorities. A Twitter mega campaign was held at 7 pm on Sunday, June 5, while another was held yesterday, on June 7 at 8 pm. The hashtag #CBSEconsiderBestOfEitherTerms is trending on the platform.
"Students now our movement is in peak, it's very important that we come under same umbrella and support the #BestOfEitherTerms unitedly. If you all support, join the telegram group and also share it with everyone #SubjectWiseBestOfEitherTerms", reads a tweet from AIJNSA (@AIJNSA_official).
"Please don't act to cruel to us ... Please try to understand our problems , we need help please help us. CBSE is like God to us please grant our wish. I know it's not a incorrect one please. We are begging you. PLEASE .. #CBSEconsiderBestOfEitherTerms @cbseindia29 @AllCBSENews," reads another tweet from a CBSE student, Mana Mondal (@ManaMondal03).
"Our concerns are very genuine . Then why not listen to us @cbseindia29 ? Please implement #CBSEconsiderBestOfEitherTerms @UrHimanshuBorah @EduMinOfIndia @dpradhanbjp @PMOIndia", yet another tweet from a CBSE student Tanishka (@Tan_shka) states.
And the All India Student's Union AISU (@Official_AISU) writes, "#CBSEconsiderBestOfEitherTerms
What Students have gone through in the last 2 years unprecedented conditions is known to everyone; Then why can't they be given the leniency of #BestOfEitherTerms @cbseindia29 @EduMinOfIndia".
Activist-lawyer Anubha Shrivastava Sahai (@anubha1812) has also commented on the issue. She tweeted, "#CBSEconsiderBestOfEitherTerms This will give justice to all the students. Kindly consider @PMOIndia".
Meanwhile, Himanshu informed that students have submitted written representations to the CBSE national headquarters, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Union Education Minister and the CBSE Regional Offices in Panchkula, Bhubaneswar, Patna and on June 8, to the Guwahati office as well. He also informed that more representations would be sent subsequently.
On the other hand, "There's no doubt that education has been affected. The online classes have been insufficient and have not proved to be effective for all. And the students did not get the same amount of time for Term II as they got for Term I. But the Term system itself was introduced to lighten the burden of the students. The exam was conducted on sort of a semester model. The syllabus was also reduced by 30%. And this removed portion consists of all the difficult concepts from different chapters. CBSE has tried its level best not to tax the students," said Santosh Kumar Mishra, a teacher from Sainik School, Bhubaneswar.
"When we went to evaluate the papers this year, CBSE clearly instructed us to be as liberal as possible. And the question papers were not very difficult, but quite ordinary. The maths paper sported an average difficulty level. The exam was held for 35 marks in each subject, and it was 40 marks for Math. And each paper had a case-study question of 8 marks, which can be answered with ease, to aid the students to score better. For the 80-mark paper, which had 32-33 questions, students got three hours. Now the number of questions has been reduced to half and they got 2 hours to finish it. CBSE does not want any student to suffer," he added.
"So, I don't see any reasons for the students' demands. They may have scored better in Term I than Term II because it was conducted in the respective schools and not in centres. CBSE had sent the question papers to each school and sent only an external examiner to check if the exams were being conducted properly. But schools have been liberal with the students during these exams. Moreover, there was a single question paper and no sets. So that might be the reason that students are asking for the best score to be considered. If there are a lot of demands then CBSE might consider them," he said further.
