In a bid to make the examination process free of malpractices, the ICSE board has decided to introduce personalised answer books for students appearing for the ICSE and ISC exams from this year. Under this initiative, the answer books will have a photograph of the student as well as his or her pre-printed UID number to curb malpractices and reduce the stress students undergo during the exams.
Confirming the development, Gerry Arathoon, chief executive and secretary of the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, said that the same would be implemented from this year itself. “Under this initiative, answer books will carry photographs of the student as well as their UID number which they tend to fill up wrongly due to exam stress,” said Mr Arathoon.
While elaborating on the initiative, a school principal from the city said that unlike in the past when the board sent a single packet of answer books for all students appearing for the exam at a particular centre, it would be sending packets equivalent to the number of students appearing at the centre. “The packets will have the UID number of students mentioned on it to avoid confusion as well as ensure ease of distribution of answer books,” he said.
When asked whether manipulation could happen when the paper would be assessed, the principal said that it would not be possible as the UIDs are randomly generated numbers that aren’t sequential, hence even though the examiner may be able to identify the gender it would not be possible for them to know where the students is from.
For the past few years, the ICSE board has been trying to improve its examination process and has introduced many changes in the pattern which includes changing the scoring pattern from 50:50 to 70:30 for certain subjects. The latest initiative has been aimed at reducing any sort of malpractice like replacing of answer books or copy cases.
Another principal said that the new system would be beneficial to the students. “It was found that students were making mistakes while filling up their UID numbers due to exam stress. The pre-printed number will ensure that they do not make any mistakes.”
