The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has registered a case over the negligent attitude of Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha that resulted in the traumatic condition of more than 1,000 students who appeared at the High School Certificate (HSC) examinations this year.
The apex human rights watchdog registered the case pursuant to a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer and rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy.
“The faulty evaluation of answer sheets resulted in large scale discontent and protest in the State while students started attempting suicides. The School and Mass Education Department instead of taking corrective measures asked the police for help that finally resulted in lathi charge and injured ten persons,” Radhakanta alleged.
“The mistake in evaluation has made the life of students miserable. The BSE which admitted the faulty evaluation has not paid any heed to the mental health and psychological disaster of the students below 16 years old,” Radhakanta contended.
It was found that the students who secured around 90 percent mark in the subjective paper got minimal score in optical mark recognistion (OMR) sheets which were evaluated by computers. It is pertinent to mention that when BSE declared the Matric result on April 30 only 387 students secure A1 grade (over 90 per cent marks), now the number has increased to 1018, Radhakanta pointed out.
“I had expected over 90 per cent marks in Science, Geography and History but secured below 60 per cent mark. There must be some problem in evaluation. I am very disappointed,” said Piyus Dipankar Nayak (Roll Number 016BB189), a student of Ramchandra High School. He alleged that ce.correction@gmail.com email id register which was given by the Board to file complaints is not working properly as complain mail bounced back. Students and guardians also alleged that no one picking up BSE helpline 0671-2415484.
The petitioner requested the Commission to immediately investigate and monitor the situation till all the students get justice in the process of rectification and make a comprehensive recommendation.
He further urged the Commission to direct the State to provide compensation to all the students who have suffered due to the faulty evaluation, besides ensuring free medical treatment to the injured in the lathi charge and pay them compensation.