CBSE paper leak: How examination boards let us down each time

It is true that a board exam question paper leak is not a new thing. A paper leak as big as this one, possibly.

Year after year, there would be a faint whiff or two of exam scandal that would pass us by, and we would continue, determined to hold on to what gave us our identity and our futures - "marks" in the exam. If we could not trust the examination board, then we had no future.

But the real trouble was not just our total dependence on the examination board. It was how examination boards let us down each time.

We watched as our friends and neighbours became collateral damage - some hit by poor marking, some by incompetent examiners, some by the lack of guidance about marking schemes, and others by their inability to replicate the perfect answer that could be photo-mapped to what the ill-paid examiner could manage in the seconds they could afford per script.

There was no room for competence, capabilities. This was a stamping exercise, and we all marched to its music. Sweetening the music was the practice of "competitive moderation", an exercise that that raised marks of students to compensate for the deep holes in learning and assessment systems. This was worse than a scandal. We called it a system.

This CBSE question paper leak is just the tip of the iceberg, just a small manifestation of how lives can be smashed by rotten systems, powered by arrogance and greed.

The system of issuing multiple papers that was proved to prevent cheating was arbitrarily removed. The board knew of the paper leak a whole day before - and did nothing about it. It seems that they have no backup papers ready. We are already at complete process failure.

Then comes the enormity of the leak.

It is big. It is viral.

It cannot be contained. Online leaks know no geographical boundaries. The responses are weak, confusing and incoherent. To have reached the level of confusion that is demonstrated by the aftermath of the current paper leak is an achievement in itself - the CBSE and its saviours are out of ideas and we can see them stumble.

The next scheduled examination expected schools to be able to download a paper and print it out within minutes - it was never going to be effective, schools are not geared up for such delivery.

Eventually the paper download time came and passed, with students waiting at examination centres - but no paper. It seems at the last minute they reverted to centralised printing and distribution via banks. Something that schools were not prepared for since they were sitting with printers to the ready, praying for no paper jams and enough ink in their cartridges.

Eventually, the exam was conducted at different times across schools. This bait and switch would have been amusing if it were not real. This is clearly not a competent authority in charge. Some people have been arrested, a lowly official suspended. The drama continues, with a PIL in court against the re-examination, one which has to be confirmed in any case.

Let us just say that this is a fluid situation, relentless in its pressure upon students.

In all of this stink, what is most rotten is the callousness towards the students. Mere children, subject to your indoctrination and wholly accepting of your mastery over their lives - you betray them. Do we have any idea of how desperately these students study to peak on that particular day?

This examination system is still in the land of rote learning, and rote learning has its rules. We are told that there is only one real chance, and we know that once one has memorised, there can be only one perfect regurgitation.

Everything we do - the expensive tuitions, the misery of the pre-boards and their low scores, the mad 18-hour swotting days in the run-up to the exams - is a fine-tuned march up to the moment of attack.

This is war, for so many, and to have expended all that energy, and then to know that it was all fruitless is devastating. It takes months to build up that momentum. And the system callously suggests a re-examination.

For the honest, it is a penalty. For the dishonest, it is a second chance that they did not deserve.

To be kind to the authorities, there is no single solution that can be fair to all candidates once a leak has occurred at such a scale and speed. It is a maze, which they are expected to handle with maturity and professionalism.

In that, neither the MHRD nor the CBSE have met our expectations yet. It is not as if the stresses in the system have not received some attention, but it is still not seeking to attack the root of the problem. The syllabus is set to be halved next year, though there are questions to be raised there too.

The competitive spiking was abruptly called out last year by the top bureaucrat who extracted promises from all boards to refrain, though there was no mechanism to actually measure and calibrate standards. There seems to be nothing in place to rein in the CBSE’s overreach into school administration via circulars, energies that would have been better utilised in better governance of their own processes.

There are too few experts in assessment. And even those with experience are more exercised about the logistics and infrastructure of testing, not in the real issues of assessment. Even that seems ill-managed as operations remain opaque to the public. Thus, there is little to no transparency and accountability to the very people they serve - the students. The worst is the system design where this beast called the board exams carries so much importance - it sits at the fulcrum trying to keep the load of a successful career aloft.

A better system design would not load so much on one examination set, and one has to hold the policymakers responsible for not replacing such poor system design in the face of multiple student suicides each year.

There is no doubt that there must be a root-and-branch reform of assessment in the country. The tail cannot wag the dog - examinations cannot be allowed to determine all aspects of education.

It is time to open up the examination system. Allow multiple boards to compete with each other freely. Let each student have multiple chances at success, via varied assessments, not just examinations.

Retain autonomy for each assessment system, but let both competition and good governance hold these boards accountable - not to the bureaucracy or the government, but to the public they serve - the students.

Let there be an ombudsman, a regulatory authority in addition to the National Testing Service being started. But most importantly, recognise that there is more to assessment than just testing and logistics, and invest in expertise. Let examinations become smarter, and that means much more than incorporating technology for fairness, variety and purpose.

It is an opportunity to enable examinations to do what they were meant to do - identify potential. As it stands, examination boards act as a monopoly, deeply guarding its incompetence and being relegated to becoming mere sorting mechanisms.

To expect reform at this stage seems to be ambitious. First, because the will to reform is not visible anywhere. The authorities are covering up, and creating enough movement around the issue to be seen to be doing something. The fact that whatever they are doing is not improving matters for students and does not demonstrate an understanding of assessment systems will be ignored.

Students will again dance to their tunes and will be too stressed to protest. This will pass, as will most students. Those who are in positions where they can change things for the better will look at themselves, satisfied that the situation has been managed. One cannot expect people who have emerged successful in a system to doubt its worth - as is true for the examination system today.

Interestingly, there are two types of people in charge today - those who passed many exams to get to where they are, and those who value examinations and certificates, but have not needed many for their current success and position.

Neither seems to be willing to understand and mitigate the troubles of the students today.

Also read: Why BJP government is responsible for CBSE paper leak