Students always on the receiving end

A friend shared with me his daughter's result card for ninth class issued by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education. Even a cursory glance at the result card compels the reader to note the glaring discrepancy: a C grade in the subject of Urdu despite an A+ in each of all other subjects. The student complained of some lapse in the evaluation of her paper, as she had done the paper equally well. The father informed me that he knew a case where a student failed in all major subjects but got sixty out of seventy-five marks in Urdu.

The father consoled his daughter with the assurance that they would apply for the rechecking of the answer sheet, and he did do that online the very next day. A date was given to them when the student could see her answer sheet, whether it was checked properly or not. Both father and daughter reached the examination board by public transport on the stipulated date. When the student looked at her answer sheet, she was startled on finding that one question had not been marked at all, while the other questions were merely ticked and under-credited without any justification.

The concerned official assured them that their complaint had merit; hence, the unmarked question would be rechecked and awarded accordingly. The father visited the board office again on the due date, but the official tried to red tape the matter, saying that the question had not been rechecked yet. The father protested that he had taken a leave of absence from his job and travelled more than 50 km to find something to console his daughter, who was disappointed to the extent of depression.

The father didn't give up. He met the chairman of the board, who acknowledged the father's grievances. Strict orders were issued to the official, who then admitted that the unmarked question had been evaluated, and marks were added to the total.

Now, the question arises as to how they would know that the unmarked question was evaluated right or that the total marks were recounted correctly. The father protested that the complainant must be allowed to see the rechecked answer sheet, but rechecking rules had no such provision.

That's the ordeal countless students and their parents have to go through during rechecking.

The procedural dos and don'ts for rechecking are awfully weird and illogical. First, only the student can see the answer sheet. Nobody, not even of biological relationship, is allowed to accompany the student throughout the process, ignoring the fact that a ninth-class student is not supposed to be mature enough to discuss the lacunae in the checking of questions with the staff of the secrecy branch. The staff easily bamboozle the students with the jargon without allowing any cross-questions. The only consolation offered to the aggrieved is that the fee charged for rechecking is refunded if the objection is acknowledged.

The examiner's authority to evaluate the answer sheets is declared "scripturally sacrosanct". The answers under-credited without any solid reason cannot be challenged in any law court. That's why, as per the board's statutes, it's actually recounting, not rechecking. No doubt, the root cause goes back to the checking of answer sheets, and it must be addressed first.

The ossified system of rechecking the answer sheets must undergo a complete overhaul. To start with, at least one family member must be allowed to accompany a student. A team of educationists must be available at the exam board, though on call, to allow open debate to clarify to the complainant the under-evaluation of an answer written in the answer sheet. Also, the whole process of redressal must be completed in one go. At the tabulation of the final results, any abrupt dip or surge in the obtained marks in a subject must be pointed out, and to keep its side safe, the exam board must issue orders to double-check the answer sheets to iron out such kinks.

The above student, like countless others, is yet to come to terms with what has happened to her. Even if the student gulps it down as a stroke of bad luck — Pakistan remains a fertile land for such hapless resignation prescribed for the ordinary people — she will lose trust in human effort or may resort to tainted methods to secure whatever they want.