Hyderabad: There are three levels of checks in the uploading of examination marks, and the recent Intermediate marks fiasco indicates that not all three may have been followed by the state education department.
The three levels are at the spot evaluation centres, according to senior officials of the education department. There are lecturers who have been doing the work of checking papers for the past five to 20 years, and the department states that they are well-trained to carry out their work.
At the second level, marks have to be added and put on the score board. These are then to be verified by the invigilator and put in the final book.
According to sources in the department, the mistakes in the present case have occurred at the administrative level too, where the supervision and rechecking levels have failed.
A senior member of the department explained: “We have been doing this work for so many years and there have been problems, but not on the scale that it is being portrayed now. There have been lapses in the system where the level of verification and reverification has not been followed properly. The lecturers do not check more than 15 papers per day. These are then again re-assessed by the invigilator before giving the final marks. Hence the system is very clear and only a lapse would result in this kind of blunder.”
Technical error too is not ruled out, but experts say that it can’t be to the level that is being shown.
A senior officer gave another reason. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, “the in-fighting between the two unions in the intermediate board is also one of the reasons for the creation of this commotion and confusion. The in-fighting which has been going on since the last six months has culminated in a major fiasco, creating problems for the students and parents who are also being misguided.”
