Irked by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education’s (MSBSHSE) decision to award a bonus of seven marks in chemistry to only those who have attempted to answer the misprinted questions for the chemistry exam, a higher secondary certificate (HSC) examination candidate initiated an online petition against it on Wednesday.
“The question paper had four to five questions which were wrong, misprinted and out of the HSC syllabus. The state board’s decision to give the marks only to those who had attempted the questions is wrong. The decision is totally unfair for the students who have not attempted the questions since they had never even heard of it. Why should rest of the students suffer due to the errors and mistakes of the Board?,” said Suzana Siddiqui, the HSC student who began the online petition on Change.org. Till date, a total of 423 signatures have been collected in support of the cause.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Shakuntala Kale, the chairman of MSBSHSE, after having reviewed the errors in the chemistry question paper which was distributed during the exam on February 28, had said that the errors were minor. She said that, however, it should not affect the career of students and that seven bonus marks will be awarded to those who had attempted the questions.
“The board cuts marks for cancellations and untidy answer papers, so why will students unnecessarily attempt questions they have never heard of ? I have myself appeared for the chemistry paper and found it extremely difficult to cope with the out of syllabus questions. Besides, if students know that the question is not related to anything he/she has ever learnt about, then why will they attempt it in the first place? There are many students who tried solving the questions in rough but didn't get the answer. Therefore, they did not write it in the main answer paper. To be fair, everyone should get these marks because the Board is responsible for the mistake,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“The board cuts marks for cancellations and untidy answer papers, so why will students unnecessarily attempt questions they have never heard of ? I have myself appeared for the chemistry paper and found it extremely difficult to cope with the out of syllabus questions. Besides, if students know that the question is not related to anything he/she has ever learnt about, then why will they attempt it in the first place? There are many students who tried solving the questions in rough but didn't get the answer. Therefore, they did not write it in the main answer paper. To be fair, everyone should get these marks because the Board is responsible for the mistake,” she added.
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