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An eerie calm prevailed outside Green Valley School – one of the centres for the re-test of CBSE Class 12 economics exam in Greater Noida. Perhaps the board didn’t want to take any chances, it was a mixed batch of 50-60 students from two different schools.
The Central Board of Secondary Education had announced that the Class 12 economics students will have to appear for a re-test on Wednesday, 25 April, after the reports of the leak surfaced on 28 March. Though it had triggered widespread outrage among students across India, they seemed rather relieved today to face what they dubbed “an easy question paper”.
The paper was extremely easy. In fact, it was easier than the previous one. The section on macroeconomics was pretty easy as there were direct questions.Kalash Singhal, Student, Ryan International
The paper was really simple. Questions were direct and everything else was quite easy.Gurjot Kaur, Student, Ryan International
The flip side of the re-test, however, was that it came in the way of those who wanted to focus on the competitive exams after the board exams.
I’m a student of PCM (physics, chemistry and maths) with economics being my optional subject. I have the Manipal University entrance exam on 29 April, so the re-test disturbed my preparation.Gurjot Kaur, Student, Ryan International
For Nandana Bhattacharjee, another student of Ryan International, preparing for exam all over again was “time-consuming and annoying”. Nandana would be sitting for few entrance exams this year but her preparation went off track due to the re-test.
CBSE Marred By Paper Leaks
Besides class 12 economics exams, there were reports of class 10 mathematics paper being leaked. But the board decided against a re-test of that paper, saying the examination was “largely an internal segment” of school education system.
For conducting the re-test of the economics paper, the board had said, “Class 12 exams are a gateway to higher education and various professional competitive exams which have limited seats... Therefore, giving undue advantage to a handful of beneficiaries of the alleged leak of the economics paper would not be in larger interest of the students.
Investigations Still On
Investigators made arrests in several parts of the country in connection with the case, including in Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh. They claimed to have arrested the main conspirators behind the leak from Una town in Himachal Pradesh. The three people were staffers at a school in the town.
The Class 12 economics paper was leaked on 23 March, three days before the scheduled date, according to the Delhi Police. In the capital city, students held protests, accusing the CBSE of negligence, and demanded immediate action against the guilty.
The leak was exposed after an envelop containing four images of the hand-written economics paper was delivered to the CBSE headquarters in Delhi on the evening of the scheduled date of examination.
(With inputs from PTI and TOI)
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