Calcutta, Oct. 30: ICSE and ISC answer
scripts will be bar-coded and the portion of the booklet where students
identify themselves by name will be torn off in the examination centre
to ensure confidentiality during evaluation, the Council for Indian
School Certificate Examinations has decided.
In the new system
to be introduced in 2014, each booklet will also have eight (in ICSE) to
twelve (in ISC) additional sheets in each booklet so that candidates do
not have to repeatedly ask for extra sheets.
Till 2013, the
answer sheets had a cover page on which the students had to mention
their names and index numbers and the examiners could see the details of
the students when they evaluated them.
In the new system,
the answer booklets will contain a detachable optical mark reader
(OMR), a machine readable sheet, which will be separated once the
students submit the answersheets after writing their exams.
Both the OMR sheet
and the answer booklets will be bar-coded and when the examiners get
the answer scripts, they can see only the code on answer scripts.
When the
evaluation is over, the tabulation and preparation of the mark sheets of
the individual students will be done by matching the bar codes on the
OMR sheets and the answersheets.
“The new bar-coded
system will maintain anonymity of students and better confidentiality
in the evaluation process,” said Nabaran Dey, the general secretary of
Association of ICSE Schools and a member of the executive committee of
the CISCE.
The council felt
it necessary to put bar codes on answer sheets to curb chances of any
contact or undue influence by unscrupulous examinees or guardians on
examiners and other officials responsible in handling the papers for
evaluation, a source said.
“Irregularities in
the examination process have come up against some (school) boards in
the country. It is essential to maintain secrecy about the personal
information of examinees in such a situation. The new bar-coded model of
answersheets will help us maintain such secrecy,” the source said.
Apart from being bar- coded, the answersheets will also look thicker from next year, a council source said.
The answersheets
of ISC students will contain 32 pages instead of 20 pages and that of
the ICSE students will have 24 pages instead of 16.
The intention behind increasing the number of pages is to lessen the chances of students taking extra sheets.
“Certain technical
faults may arise and the bar codes may not match if students attach too
many extra sheets. We have increased the number of pages to avoid such
possibilities of technical faults,” said the source.
The detachment of the OMR sheets will be done at the exam venue itself.
The answersheets
will be sent to the CISCE main office directly from the respective exam
venues in a specially designed envelope. Every envelope will have a
separate flap for attaching the OMR sheets.
“If an envelope is
designed to carry, say 20 answer sheets, then the flap on this
particular envelope will also have the space for keeping 20 OMR sheets,”
said a source in CISCE.
The Telegraph
Post a Comment
We love to hear from you! What's on your mind?