'Education system run like a business': Rahul Gandhi slams CBSE over steep re-evaluation fees and technical flaws
Rahul Gandhi has accused the Centre of running the CBSE like a business, highlighting steep re-evaluation fees and technical flaws in the marking system.
by Zee Media Bureau · Zee NewsCongress President and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, fired a volley of criticisms against the Central Government concerning the CBSE's re-evaluation process. As per Rahul Gandhi, our national education system is quite "financialised" and is functioning just like a business entity, which compels the student body to pay for any faults in the system.
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Rahul Gandhi slams 'pickpocketing' through high re-evaluation fees
Through the sharing of a video clip on his official Twitter page capturing Gandhi interacting with some of the affected students, he explains in detail the fees that the students have been subjected to for a revaluation of their marks. The Congress President heavily lambasted the cost of the service required to correct their mistakes.
According to Rahul Gandhi's tweet, the structure of fees imposed on students includes the following:
- A digital scanned copy fee – ₹100 per subject.
- Re-totalling of marks – ₹100 per paper.
- Re-evaluation fee – ₹25 per individual question.
Gandhi alleged that the process of checking the accuracy of a paper could cost a student about Rs 2,000, only to ascertain that their answer sheets have been checked correctly. "It's all a mistake of CBSE; the punishment comes upon the students, while the profit is pocketed by the government." It's unclear how the Board manages to rake in profits by charging students an exorbitant fee for a service which, in reality, does not require so much money.
Technical errors in the CBSE on-screen marking system criticised
The ongoing scandal has to do with the technical problems in the CBSE On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. As per Gandhi, there are numerous issues with the initial marking process itself because errors occur inevitably whenever a student paper is evaluated with a mobile phone.
These remarks were made after hearing about multiple allegations of mismatched answer sheets found among those uploaded for Class 12 students using the OSM rechecking portal. Interestingly enough, it was the second such video made by Gandhi, as a week ago he accused the Centre of remaining silent regarding the flaws in the OSM marking scheme.
Tech gurus and IIT experts appointed to resolve CBSE website issues
Moreover, it must be mentioned that Gandhi attacked Coempt, which was the company assigned to carry out the computerized evaluation for CBSE, by highlighting the past controversial history of the company under its old name, Globarena.
Reacting to the emerging situation, the CBSE said in a statement that the cases where there have been inconsistencies with the answer papers of students will be dealt with on "top priority." It was reported that the authorities have roped in some external experts from IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, and DICI to rectify this problem.