Uproar in Bengal Over Tough CBSE Question Papers

Kolkata: Tanerika Biswas, 17, a student appearing for the CBSE 12th board examinations, is having nightmares about the leftover tests after the tough question papers of English and Physics have dealt a blow to her and her peers’ ambitions.

Tanerika, who scored 100 out 100 in her secondary exams, cried a lot after her CBSE plus 12 exams in English and Physics went awfully wrong. Tanerika is not alone as thousands of CBSE board examinees are facing the same problem this year.

The gravity of the situation has also led to Rajya Sabha MP and advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya condemning the attitude of the CBSE board to test what the students had not learned in all these years rather than what he has learnt. Speaking to Newsclick, Bhattacharya, The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] MP in the Upper House of the parliament, said that after the pandemic, education has become one of the hardest hit sectors in the country. Meanwhile, online classes have led to a deep digital divide between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural and so on, as internet and computers are not widely available among most students in the country.

“While regular classes have not resumed, these sorts of tough questions are an aberration. tough questions do not test the ability of the students. Giving questions outside of syllabus or extremely tough questions like this year might lead to deteriorating mental health of the students,” Bhattacharya said. The poorer section of the students who did not receive regular school tuition will face more problem due to this attitude of the CBSE board management, he said while talking to Newsclick.

Speaking to Newsclick, Tanerika Biswas, a class 12 student of Prabharani Public School in Berhampore, West Bengal said that Mathematics and Physics test papers were lengthy while English one was confusing. In the Physics question paper, there were all numerical based questions but no theory questions, which has taken a toll on the students this year. She also said that her friends have been feeling dejected after this year’s Physics paper as their ambition of getting good marks is a distant cry now. Tanerika’s mother Chaitali is now concerned about the mental health of her daughter as well.

Farid Chowdhury, a teacher with Lee Memorial School, a CBSE school in Kolkata said that the students should not expect the same pattern of questions every year. “One year, the question papers are relatively tough and another year, they are is relatively easier. This year, it was tough to a catastrophic level because students have been scant in regular classes in schools in the last two years. This problem has been felt even in Kolkata, so in the backward, farflung areas of the state, the students will face even more problems,” Chowdhury said.

The CBSE board changed their question patterns in the board examination held this year; the mathematics question paper was relatively lengthy as well, Chowdhury told Newsclick.

Meanwhile, Premachandan, Revolutionary Socialist Party MP from Kerala, also condemned this year’s question papers of the CBSE board and has also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.

The students have also tweeted to the board calling for liberal evaluation of the papers in light of the controversy over their difficulty levels. Many such tweets have surfaced on the social media. A principal of a CBSE school who wished to not be named said that after the two-year lull, these sort of questions would drive students out of the education system rather than enthusing them to go for higher studies and for a pan India board, such an outlook should be severely condemned.