Schools in Malabar have alleged that they have received more higher secondary question papers than required for the upcoming half-yearly examinations. Question papers for the examinations ahead of Christmas holidays have already been printed and delivered to schools.
Most schools in Malappuram that are SCOLE-Kerala (State Council for Open and Lifelong Education-Kerala) centres have received more question papers than needed for their regular students, say teachers. A chunk of SCOLE-Kerala admissions every year is from the Malabar districts, so the number of schools that are SCOLE-Kerala exam centres in the region is high.
Authorities of a school said their school was a centre for open school students for the year-end examinations. Question papers were needed for those students only then, not for the half-yearly examinations. “It seems the question papers have been printed as per the indent for the public examinations.” Another school had received question papers for subjects not taught to their regular students, but which SCOLE-Kerala students appeared for at the end of the year. “Question papers for such subjects are not needed for the half-yearly examinations because our regular students are not taught these. These are required only for the public examinations in March when open school students take the year-end examination,” the school authorities said.
Double the number
They pointed out that they had received nearly double the number of packets required for other subjects, indicating that these were intended for open school students. Authorities of a school said they were in the process of distributing the excess question papers to additional batches sanctioned in Malabar this year after they reached out saying they had not received the printed question papers.
Higher secondary coordinators in the district have sought details of schools that have excess question papers so that these can be redistributed. However, a problem is that while most SCOLE-Kerala students register for Commerce or Humanities, the additional batches sanctioned are largely in the Science stream. So, redistribution may not be totally possible.
Official response
Higher Secondary Joint Director (Examinations) S.S. Vivekanandan said a shortage of question papers in additional batches sanctioned this year had come to his attention, and a circular to make up for the shortage from district centres or nearby schools had been issued. However, they had received no word of excess question papers reaching schools. It was normal to supply around 20% extra question papers, as teachers too required them for valuation, but any excess beyond that had not come to his attention.
Schools could have 100-200 registered SCOLE-Kerala students depending on their size. If this were to be multiplied by six subjects for each student, the financial loss to the government on account of printing the extra question papers would be huge, teachers’ organisations said, pointing out that they were yet to be paid for valuation of answer scripts for the 2023 March exams. Kerala Higher Secondary Teachers Union general secretary Panakkad Abdul Jaleel said any financial loss to the exchequer on account of printing excess question papers should be claimed from the officials responsible.
