Full marks for wrong questions? HC reserves verdict

A division bench of HC comprising acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala had constituted an expert committee of three noted mathematicians to give its opinion on the subject.

The three members have been identified as Dr M H Vasavada,Dr A M Vaidhya and Dr J C Sharma.

Patel’s lawyer Digant Popat said the expert committee had opined that out of the total questions disputed by the petitioner,a sum of five marks was incorrect and all the students who attempted these till three steps should be given full five marks for the same. “For the rest of the questions,the expert committee has opined there were some minor mistakes but,those mistakes cannot be called such which could have confused the students or because of which they could not answer the same,” Popat said.

The examination for the mathematics paper of Class XII was held on March 14 this year.

The petitioner has contended that the question paper contained apparent mistakes and incorrect questions of a total of 12 marks. He has also argued that the question paper was not as per the the board’s guidelines to the extent of 44 marks.

Highlighting the importance of Class XII examination in a student’s career,the petitioner contended, “The future of a child and his career is dependent upon the result of this examination. A difference of a single mark would matter to the student who has worked hard for his future.”

“The mistakes in the question paper cannot be taken lightly and will have serious effect in the life of a child,” he added.

He also cited a recent incident when a 17-year-old girl committed suicide after her class XII board exams did not go well.