School admits error, blames JKBOSE for inaction
Srinagar, Feb 18: A class 10th student enrolled at Government Girls Higher Secondary School (HSS) Khanyar Srinagar has missed the opportunity to sit in the class 10th annual examination amid the blame game of the school authorities and the officials at the JK Board of School Education (BOSE).
The class 10th annual regular examination commenced from February 17 however the student identified as Toyiba Yaqoob was not allowed to enter inside the examination hall as she could not get the roll number slip in her name due to some errors from the school authorities.
However, the school authorities say that the error could have been rectified within a day by the JK Board of School Education (BOSE) who instead punished the student.
The student, Toyiba Yaqoob on Monday afternoon was in a state of shock as she could not appear in the exam centre for any of her faults.
“The concerned school teacher has filled my form with the wrong name. Instead of Toyiba Yaqoob, the teacher has submitted the form of Toyiba Fayaz who took the discharge certificate from the school in class 9th,” the aggrieved student said.
She said she along with her parents and school Principal visited the BOSE office a week before the commencement of the examination, but the official denied to rectify the error.
“We approached the Joint Secretary examination with our plea to rectify the error but he dodged us till the last moment,” said Farooq Ahmad, uncle of the student.
Toyiba Yaqoob was a regular student at the school and the registration forms were submitted four months ahead of the examination.
“The school authorities have mistakenly omitted my name-Toyiba Yaqoob and instead submitted the form of the student-Toyiba Fayaz who is not presently enrolled in the school,” the student said, adding that she was punished for none of her fault.
The uncle of the student said that the Joint Secretary examination earlier dodged them saying the error will be rectified and later claimed that the file should be approved by the Secretary JKBOSE.
“Exam was scheduled from Monday (February 17) and we were visiting the BOSE office till Saturday (February 15). But the Board official did not rectify the error,” Farooq Ahmad said.
Principal Government Girls HSS Wahida, while acknowledging that “human error” was from the school side, said that the issue could have been rectified by JKBOSE within a day.
“The moment we came to know that the registration form was mistakenly submitted under another name, we wrote an official communication to JKBOSE to rectify the error. Unfortunately, they did not rectify the error till exams approached,” the school principal said.
She passed the buck on the JKBOSE saying that she along with the concerned school teacher visited JKBOSE office for six days to get the issue resolved.
“I told the joint secretary examination that let them penalise the concerned teacher for his negligence but safeguard the career of the student. But the officials did not agree,” Principal HSS Khanyar said.
She said that instead of penalising the teacher, the JKBOSE officials punished the student who missed the chance to sit in the exam as a regular student.
“But as per NEP a student can appear in the exam twice in a year while being provisionally enrolled in the next class. After two or three months, the student can appear in the class 10th exam as a fresh private student and her year will not be wasted,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Joint Secretary examination Suraj Singh Rathore when contacted said that the issue was not in his competence.
“The school approached late. The exam has already started and how can I rectify the error now,” he told Greater Kashmir last Saturday while putting the blame on the school authorities.
On Saturday, the JKBOSE had scheduled the examination of class 10th students for their additional/optional subject.
