Ludhiana: School’s administrative ‘error’ puts Class 10 students in a fix
Students at Victoria Public School faced chaos during their CBSE Class 10 English exam due to a school error, receiving the wrong question paper.
Confusion and panic gripped students of Victoria Public School, Lehra, as their Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 English exam turned into a nightmare due to a “school aadministrative error”.
Upon arriving at their designated exam centre (Nankana Sahib Public School) on Saturday, students expected to receive the English Language and Literature (Code 184) question paper. Instead, they were given the Communicative English (Code 101) paper, a subject they had not prepared for. The error took place due to incorrect exam form entries by Victoria Public School, students said. It affected 117 students.
Parents of a few students said, “We approached the school principal who claimed that the CBSE had changed the syllabus just days before the exam. Enquiries from other schools established that no such change had been made.”
Gurpreet Singh, father of an affected student, said, “Our children worked hard for the exam. Now, they are suffering for no fault. The school has given no proper solution.”
A student said, “This mistake has cost us an entire section of the exam.”
City CBSE coordinator and Nankana Sahib Public School principal Harmeet Waraich criticised Victoria Public School for “failing” to correct the error despite multiple opportunities. “After filling exam forms in September-October, the CBSE provides three checklists for corrections. The school must have neglected them, leading to this mistake. Twenty-four marks will be affected as three sections remain common across all English papers,” she said.
She added that students, upon their will, can appear for an improvement exam in July. Despite repeated attempts, the principal of Victoria Public School could not be reached for a comment.