The History of Goof-Ups in Education - TOI article - 16/02/2008

The SSC board has a history of goof-ups

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: For many schools across the state, which received a flurry of circulars from the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Education on clarifications for class-X textbooks, it was a case of deja vu. For, this was just one in a long line of goof-ups committed by the board, teachers said.
A goof-up in the SSC mathematics paper last year resulted in class-X students receiving 30 “free’’ marks. The goof-up was that 30 per cent of the questions in one set of papers was a lot tougher than questions in the rest of the sets; the board set multiple question papers for algebra and geometry to curb cheating. But the hue and cry that followed forced the board to give all students 30 marks for the contentious section. This, not surprisingly, pushed up the pass percentage all over the state.
That’s not all. The new set of class-X textbooks, which were released in the market for the revised SSC curriculum last year, were not only delayed by a month but were also riddled with errors. The recent circulars were the last in a long series that were issued to schools with corrections that should have been incorporated in the textbooks. “We have received corrections for textbooks in practically all the subjects,’’ a school principal said. She, however, added that most of the circulars were sent out by the board by August last year. Principals and teachers also recalled how some of the examination centres last year did not resemble school buildings at all. One of the centres was actually under construction, with iron rods sticking out of the building, and another resembled a slum with tiny classrooms and an asbestos sheet on the roof.
toireporter@timesgroup.com

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: A maths paper error in 2007 forced the board to give students 30 grace marks