The current controversy over the leaked CBSE paper seems to be growing by the minute. As news channels rake in their ‘Breaking News’ and sound bytes, we all need to remember that this is hardly the first exam that the papers have been leaked. Our examination system is heavily outdated and reliant on a compromised network where a certain set of teachers set/evaluate question papers in school and university exams. This gives them a certain power and complacency which translates into carelessness and sometimes complicity. There have been rumours of principals who tell teachers to open the sealed packet containing question papers before the commencement of the exam, so that their students can be alerted and thereby helped to do well. This improves the overall result of the school thus enhancing the concerned school’s prestige.
Schoolteachers who work in coaching institutes, are often regular paper-setters and are said to regularly make their students attempt dummy question papers, which are often as good as the real thing! The law barring school and college teachers from taking up additional jobs in coaching institutes needs to be more stringently enforced. CBSE is so heavily overburdened with conducting several competitive examinations that the much touted ‘secrecy’ is perhaps as genuinely maintained as much else in our ‘Chalta Hai’ system. We need not just one, but several bodies like CBSE to conduct the different competitive exams, given the huge number of students involved.
Coming to the question of why the leaked question papers were not only circulated on WhatsApp but also sent anonymously to the CBSE, there seems to be a sinister conspiracy involved. This seems to be a concerted and deliberate effort to ensure that this unfortunate incident snowballs into an unmanageable controversy.
The #CBSELeakGate came close on the heels of a Left – sponsored #MarchForEducation agitation, where opposition leaders openly instigated students against what they called the BJP Government’s attempt to ‘privatise’ education.
Think of it- this month we had the controversial JNU march against compulsory attendance and other issues, followed by the March for Education which turned out to be a protest against the government’s move to grant autonomy to institutions that are performing well (Centres of Excellence), and now protests against the CBSE paper leak! All three protests have seen students coming out on to the streets of the capital, shouting slogans against the Government and of course, the opposition’s favourite punching bag: MODI!
Now think again and see who stands to benefit from these seething young men and women walking on Delhi’s roads, shouting slogans against Modi. Does it not make you smell a rat? Does the word CONSPIRACY not come to mind? These students are after all, young voters, some of whom may be voting for the first time in the 2019 Elections. Therefore, fellow countrymen, please take a closer look at this recent turn of events and realise how things will turn murky in the run up to 2019. It is unfortunate that, in this process of creating unrest, the desperate politicians don’t spare a thought for the suffering students whose future is at stake.