At a record high speed, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is evaluating the answer keys or OMR sheets of 33 lakh students (who registered for class 10 and 12 board exams) within hours. The central board which is holding exams in multiple-choice question mode for the first time this year is offering the answer key (correct answers as per board) on the same day of holding exams.
It is the teachers involved who are checking the answer script in record time. The evaluation process, however, is not error-free. A large section of teachers has highlighted that the evaluation process of OMR sheets can be digitised and become more effective. While some believe the offline evaluation leaves room for rectification.
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“Manual evaluation of OMR sheets could be prone to human errors especially since the question paper was a section and a lot of choices. Digital scanning of OMR sheets at designated city centers or online conduct of examination could be a good idea,” said Dr Anshu Arora, principal of Amity International School, Sector 43, Gurugram.
She also highlighted that there should have been uniformity in allotting board centres, as writing an exam in one’s own school is definitely a boon which has been granted to a few.
“The changes introduced by CBSE this year have left many on tenterhooks. Manual evaluation of the OMR sheets may lead to discrepancies as there is a scope of human error. On the other hand, the online evaluation would have made the process smoother and more effective. Fairness in evaluation would also have been taken care of with a scanned evaluation system in place. The idea to add an additional box alongside each answer in the OMR sheet to write the final option has made the process more intricate. Students may tend to get confused while marking the final answer, thereby losing out on marks. The very purpose of OMR sheets is to go for digitised scanning of answers; hence the manual evaluation is merely adding to unwanted complications,” said Seema Kaur, Principal, Pacific World School
Offline checking leaves room for re-evaluation
Some believe that offline is a better mode of evaluation as it leaves room for having a re-look at the assessment system. “As there are multiple errors found in both answer key and question paper, offline evaluation can be considered a better option for evaluating. Considering that no disadvantage should be there for students, CBSE has already set up a panel of Subject Experts so that all such issues can be easily addressed. Evaluating online is not the best option to be taken and it gives evaluators room to dismiss errors caused in online checking that is subjective understanding and precedence to handwriting differences and visibility errors in order to deal with students from lower classes,” said Anshu Mittal, Principal, MRG School Rohini
CBSE too has acknowledged that the process is not error-free and it has developed a system to correct errors if any. The board has asked schools to share their feedback including discrepancies if any in the question paper or answer key with the board soon after the exam is over.
“Although every possible care is taken by the Board, there may still be a possibility of some ambiguity in questions or discrepancy in answer keys,” acknowledges the board. It added, “Board has a well-settled system to address such issues. Therefore, it is informed that the evaluators may check/evaluate the OMRs according to the answer keys provided to them.”
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