Students get Punjabi paper on social science exam day

Ludhiana: Students, appearing for Class VIII SCERT exams, at several government schools were in for a shock on Thursday when they were given Punjabi question paper on a day when their social sciences exam was scheduled.

The exam, which was to start at 1pm, commences after a delay of 20 minutes to an hour at different centres.

The goof-up allegedly happened as the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) filled Punjabi question paper in packets which were supposed to contain social sciences paper.

The same situation happened in six centres — Government Senior Secondary School Pamal; Government High School Bharour; Government Senior Secondary School Hargobindpur; Government Senior Secondary School Engine Shed; Government Senior Secondary School Chabeel; Government Senior Secondary School, Jagraon Bridge.

Importantly, the Punjabi exam is scheduled for March 19.

As many 44 students appeared for the social sciences exam at GSSS Pamal. But when teachers opened the packets with three sets of question papers, they found out that the packets contained Punjabi question paper. The teachers called up the Deputy DEO who told them to arrange social sciences question paper from another school and get it photo copied.

Sukhvinder Kaur, headmistress of the school, said, “I arranged the social sciences question paper from GSSS Lalton. But, as we didn’t have electricity in our school, so I jotted down 16 pages of question paper into two and then get it xeroxed. Meanwhile, I jotted the questions on the blackboard to save time for students.”

Similar was the situation in schools at Engine Shed and Jagraon Bridge. As many as 27 students of Class VIII appeared for the exam at GSSS Jagraon Bridge. After detecting the goof-up, the authorities got the social sciences paper photo copied, which delayed the exam by 45 minutes.

Naib Kaur, headmistress of the GSSS Jagraon Bridge, said, “We were quite confused at first, but we resolved it within time.”

Dr Mandeep Kaur, GSSS Engine Shed, said, “We had got three packets, and two of them contained Punjabi question papers. We took up the matter with DEO. The exam started after a delay of 25 minutes.”

An official on the condition of anonymity said, “We suggested school heads to get either the question paper photo copied or write the questions down on blackboard. The damage was controlled in time. We have informed the higher authorities. Now, they will decide whether the Punjabi exam will be postponed or reset.”