Caution follows realisation that students may obtain photocopies of answer sheets.
Anticipating that answer sheets would be made available to students under the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education has instructed teachers to be extra cautious while checking the answer papers.
Although the board is yet to decide whether to allow students to see the paper or provide them photocopies of answer sheets, sources said the proposal to provide photocopies has been sent to the state government.
State board secretary Shahaji Dekhane said, “We have to abide by the Supreme Court (SC) guidelines and thus we have sent the proposal to the state government.” He refused to divulge the details of the proposal.
On January 7, the mother of a Thane-based student of standard XII had asked for certified copies of three answer sheets. The request was turned down and instead, the parent and student were allowed to see the answer sheets at the board office under closed circuit-television surveillance after paying a fee of Rs500 for 10 minutes of viewing the paper. The Supreme Court issued the guidelines when the student moved the court.
The board’s Pune divisional secretary, Mahadev Gosavi said, “Every year we instruct moderators to be careful while checking the papers, but this year we have underlined the world careful.”
The state information commissioner (SIC), Vijay Kuvalekar had ruled in July 2009 that considering the provisions of section 8 of the RTI Act, the answer sheets of Secondary School Certificate and Higher Secondary Certificate examinations could not be confidential and its photocopies have to be made available to students. However, the board filed an appeal in Bombay high court.
Last year, the Supreme Court, in a similar case against the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), had ruled that answer papers be given under the RTI.
The Maharashtra State Council of Examination decided to provide photocopies of answer sheets under the RTI this year.
The CBSE allows only re-totalling of marks. Nashik-based Maharashtra University of Health Sciences is giving photocopies to students without any problems.
Principal of Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya (Girls), Madhura Kulkarni said, “There have been instructions from the board that answer sheets should be checked carefully. The teacher will be blamed for the smallest mistake. The problem is that one teacher has to check a bundle of 250 to 300 papers within a span of 10 days. We have been demanding that the duration be increased.”
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