Class 12 Physics: 1.3 lakh sign student petition to CBSE for leniency

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Team Careers360 | March 9, 2020 | 12:11 PM IST

NEW DELHI: Dejected by the difficulty level, Class 12 students who appeared for the physics examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) exam have started an online petition demanding lenient evaluation.

The petition was started by Aiden P. who also appeared for the exam on March 2, 2020. Within a week, it was endorsed by over 1.3 lakh. On March 7, the Press Trust of India reported that a Class 12 student of a Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Uttar Pradesh died by suicide and left a note saying he was "depressed after physics exam".

Another case surfaced from Mohali, Punjab, where an 18-year-old boy committed suicide after he failed to answer three questions in his Class 12 physics exam, reported the Financial Express.

Expressing disappointment at the “difficult” and “tricky” question paper, the petition requests CBSE officials to be liberal with marks.

Several experts, after the conclusion of the exam, also pointed out that the exam was tough as compared to last year’s question paper and included “unexpected” questions.

CBSE introduced a new paper pattern this year with multiple choice questions which were tricky and time-consuming.

‘Horrible and very tough’

Many anxious students took to social media to circulate the petition and voice their worry. Some even described the paper as being of “JEE-level”, referring to the Joint Entrance Examination, a notoriously difficult entrance exam for undergraduate engineering programmes.

Some also complained about the quality of teaching, arguing that the teachers were not competent to teach physics in a way that prepared students to answer such questions.

Another said the paper will adversely impact their academic career.

Many examinees have left comments under the petition. One found the exam “horrible and very tough”; another said it was “full of twisted questions”; still others found it “lengthy”. One student to sign the petition complained that the CBSE’s sample paper “misguided the children” as that and the pre-board exams were all easier.

‘Grace marks’

The petition also called the board’s decision to discontinue the moderation policy as “unfair.” Moderation policy allowed granting of extra marks – or, grace marks – where the exam was too difficult.

“This is not fair as the previous batches had the moderation policy and the succeeding batches will have a reduction in the syllabus. This leaves the present XII students with neither a reduction in the syllabus nor having the moderation policy,” the petition said. The Central Government has urged its apex advisory body on curriculum design, the National Council of Education Research and Training, to reduce course material.

So far, the student petition has received 133,147signatures. The target is to achieve 150,000 signatures.

Also read:
CBSE Board Exam 2020: Memes for Class 10 and 12 examinees
CBSE approaches Delhi police over question paper leak rumours: Report

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