The Topsy-Turvy Education Board

By Prem Ansh Sinha

"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, - a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect." 

                              - Macaulay in his Minutes on Education (February 2nd, 1885)

Nalanda University, Bihar

It's pretty funny and unfortunate at the same time that we, the people of India who once boasted institutes like Nalanda, Taxila, Telhara are following the principles of education that were once laid by the Brits even after decades of decolonization. It clearly tells that our institutions aren't free from the shackles of the Western and Central Asian Imperialism. Long story short - we are decolonized but not decolonialized yet. I'd love to elaborate on this issue some day. Today, I'd like to bring your attention to something more specific than that.

If Board Exams were IPL, ISC would be the CSK of it and the Semester-1 Exams, its performance in the thirteenth edition of the IPL. I have a few questions and valid arguments against how the Semester-1 Exams were hosted for the Humanities stream. However, in no way I'll resort to anything that is not guaranteed under my Freedom of Speech keeping in mind it's not absolute in our country. The purpose of this article is to prove that the Semester-1 Examinations of ISC Humanities were full of flaws. It's my habit to analyze and write whatever goes wrong in any quiz. This led to a pretty cringe late-night post after I lost the first position at the ASISC Nationals which I of course deleted after I woke up. Anyway, not to derail from the main topic, I love Humanities because there's so much left to explore in it. Unlike Science, there could be an infinite number of conclusions for a particular topic. This is the essence of Humanities and the way CISCE conducted the exams, the essence of this beautiful stream was destroyed.

My post will be divided into two parts. The first part will deal with the poor organizing skills of CISCE and the second will deal with their uninformed way of setting the paper.

Part A

In its letter dated August 6th, 2021, the Board announced that it brought some changes in its pattern citing the latest policies of the Government. They divided the Exams into semesters. It specified the New Education Policy which was introduced in the year 2020. Why didn't the Board include the other suggestions included in that policy that were beneficial for the students too? Why didn't they allow the extra-curricular activities to become a part of the progress report of students as stated by the NEP? Why wasn't the flexibility of course choices a part of this sudden decision? Alright, I accept that they are completely independent and can take one decision at a time but why did they mention that their exams are happening in accordance with the NEP? It's like getting a full plate chicken butter masala without any sign of chicken in it.

In that letter itself, it was mentioned that the Semester-1 Exams would be conducted in an MCQ format online. Online is the keyword here. On September 8th, they released another letter where they provided us with the Exam Schedule. In another letter dated October 19th, less than a month before the exams, they decided to postpone citing "reasons beyond their control". And on October 22nd they announced the revised timetable for the exams and declared that the exams would be held offline for everyone from November 22nd. Didn't they realize earlier that not every student has access to smartphones and seamless internet connectivity? Didn't they realize earlier that there's a huge percentage of students whose family income will not allow them to attend the exams properly? Didn't they realize earlier that not all schools can afford to provide such a huge number of students with a seamless internet connection and computers? Didn't they realize earlier that online exams could have resulted in pure chaos? Didn't they realize earlier that online exams could have resulted in the use of unfair means by thousands of examinees? Use of common sense is expected from the people at such high positions. 

Hereby, in the first part, I proved that the way the Semester-1 Exams were hosted was an utter failure and disappointing. 

Part B

Exams started on November 22nd. Answer keys were floating on the internet minutes after the conduction of the examinations but the CISCE is yet to release the answer keys. Let me tell you the reason. There were ample amount of errors in the question papers of History and Hindi. I don't know about the other streams though. The answer sheets were being corrected just after the examinations and now if we point out the errors, it'd become a headache for them to correct all the sheets all over again! And no, it wasn't done in the OMR sheets. Funnily, they didn't even release the question papers! Where's the transparency?

I'll be dealing briefly with the question papers of two of my favorite subjects - Hindi and History.

a) Hindi

The exam was held on November 26th, 2021. It was the most chaotic of the lot. It seemed as if the person who had set the paper had no prior knowledge of the subject. Questions weren't to examine the knowledge of an examinee but were a public display of the ignorance of the Council.

Multiple correct answers are possible.

How can the answer be option "A" when they are asking for just one "शब्द"?

In the comprehension, the place where it was used was, "कभी दफ्तर का तनाव रहता है।". How on earth can it mean "खिंचाव"?

Multiple correct answers are possible here.

Multiple correct answers are possible here.

Multiple correct answers are possible here.

Multiple correct answers are possible here.

Why can't we call him an आशावादी or सुधारवादी when he went to that Baba with the hope of getting his problems solved?

Subjective Question. Opinions can differ from person to person.

It's like asking the meaning of Greek/Latin words in an English Exam. Yes, Urdu words are a part of our बोल-चाल की भाषा but is urdu a part of hindi? 

lol. Multiple correct are answers are possible here.

Seriously?!

hahaha

Multiple correct answers are possible.

काम आना?! ISC should be ashamed of themselves!

lol

ठोको ताली! इतना गलत कैसे हो सकते हो, जनाब?

The answer should be "B" but a copy of the official answer key which is floating on the internet says it should be C. Who was the genius who prepared this question paper, again?

Multiple correct answers are possible.

b) History

The Exam was held on December 16th. ISC Sachidananda History Book by Kalyani Publishers was supposed to be the primary textbook whereas History of Modern India by Bipan Chandra, the reference book. Both the books are filled with incorrect facts and biased views but let's save it for another day. In the exam even the reference book became the primary book, id est, questions were asked even from the book by Bipan Chandra. Now, here's the catch - ISC doesn't prescribe books, it just provides us with the syllabi. Few questions didn't make any sense, 2-3 had their own propaganda, and few weren't a part of the primary textbook. Let's deal with them briefly and individually.

Not in the book.

Not in the book and the question doesn't make any sense. Wasn't he a man of integrity and why does the author of the book think that option b was the only reason Shastri-ji was selected for that post? Propaganda, dear readers.

Not in the book.

Not in the book.

Not in the book.

Not in the book.

Not in the book.

Not in the book.

 This is pretty confusing. According to our book, both Rash Behari and Captain Mohan should be the right answers. I tried going through the INA Saga by Ram Singh Rawal but couldn't find a place where it was specifically mentioned. I believe it should be there in India's Biggest Cover-up but, currently I do not have that book. Went through the social media profiles of Anuj Dhar, Prof Kapil Kumar and Chandrachur Ghosh, historians who have written books on Netaji but couldn't gather any concrete evidence. Trying to find a primary source with the official documents of the INA. Would be immensely helpful if anyone could help me out with this.

Seriously? It's not even there in the book. Even a simple google search will tell how wrong this question is! I'm not sure if it's an instance of anti-India propaganda or just an uninformed view.

Not there in the book.

Obviously, the marks have been uploaded and the results will be declared after a few hours. I never cared about marks in my whole life and I don't care about what I'll score in this exam too, but what matters is the accountability. CISCE should accept that they were wrong here. What conclusion am I trying to draw? It's to send a message that the Education System needs a genuine reform. There are so many amazing teachers of humanities at my school and I'm sure there are many in this country too. Why didn't the Council consult these teachers while setting the paper? Why did they select some uninformed teachers to set the papers for History and Hindi? 

For two years, I repeat for two complete years we were at our home. We weren't even able to complete our class 10 Boards and the schools were closed. People were dying. Government was helpless. The Prime Minister was in tears on the National Television. The whole healthcare infrastructure had collapsed. Almost every family lost a loved one. I'm one of those few fortunate students who had the privilege of using a seamless internet connection and had my own electronic devices to attend classes. But what about those who didn't? Almost 60 percent of total students didn't have internet access in our country and even amongst those who had, most faced connectivity issues. Yes, this is not an excuse and I'm aware that it's not the business of a private education board to provide students with their requirements but they could have made things easier. It was a new pattern and the least they could have done was to not include questions that weren't a part of the syllabus. 

"न चोर हार्यं न च राज हार्यं न भ्रातृ भाज्यं न च भारकारि |

व्ययं कृते वर्धत एव नित्यं विद्याधनं सर्वधन प्रधानम् ||"

Sources:

1) http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html

2) https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf

3) cisce.org - notice board for all the letters 

4) For Question Papers and Answer Keys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tue1DtHXLQ8&t=80s

5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V5DGNAroaY

6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=22s