CBSE amends rules to prevent re-evaluation of answer sheets

As of now, the board provides re-evaluation facility Class 12 students for 10 of the roughly 250 subjects, if a student is not satisfied with marks. The practice began in 2014 and doesn’t extend to Class 10 students

Students in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools will not get their answer sheets re-examined from the upcoming Class 10 and 12 exams. After a student challenged the board's selective re-evaluation policy in court, the central board has amended its examination by-laws to drop the practice of re-evaluation of answer sheets and will only continue with verification of marks.

The CBSE amended its examination by-laws to drop the practice of re-evaluation of answer sheets and will only continue with verification of marks after a student challenged the board's selective re-evaluation policy in court. (Pic for representation)

As of now, the board provides re-evaluation facility Class 12 students for 10 of the roughly 250 subjects, if a student is not satisfied with marks. The practice began in 2014 and doesn’t extend to Class 10 students.

According to the notification for amended by-laws dated October 3, which was uploaded on its website on Friday, rule 61 (iv) “for Senior School Certificate (Class 12) examination may also apply for re-evaluation in a manner prescribed by the board from time to time” has been revised to “no candidate shall claim or be entitled to revaluation of his/her answer book(s).” Only the rules allowing verification of marks — in which marks are tallied and number of supplements is verified — continue to remain the same.

The notification states that the rules have been changed as per the recommendations of the examination committee held on May 13 and approved by the governing body meeting on June 29. In August, the Delhi High Court had directed the CBSE to re-evaluate an answer sheet for political science exam after a student complained that the board was against it, even though verification of the answer sheet revealed mistakes.

Schools and students called the move regressive as they are concerned about the transparency in the evaluation process. “We study a lot for the exam and then we hear about things like peons checking answer books in some schools or other discrepancies in corrections. If re-evaluation is scrapped, there will not be any accountability left,” said Yashwini Vanjani, a Class 12 student of CBSE.

Similarly, Avnita Bir, principal, RN Podar School, Santacruz said it will be a huge loss to the students. “Lots of students apply for re-evaluation. This year too students had applied for math. Some kids marks had increased in the process,” said Bir.