[ad_1]
The Plus Two higher secondary Chemistry valuation will begin on Wednesday as per a new answer scheme.
Valuation of Plus Two Chemistry answer scripts had been stalled since the start of valuation on April 28 after a teachers’ boycott, accusing the General Education Department of issuing an answer scheme that had flaws and was incomplete.
The new scheme was prepared by a 15-member panel after examining an answer scheme prepared by a teacher who set the Chemistry question paper and the one prepared by 12 teachers during scheme finalisation.
The panel, which included three college teachers, met on Tuesday morning and went through both the schemes, and prepared a new scheme that was published on the Higher Secondary department portal in the evening.
Teachers say some form of correction has been made to around 24 answers in the new scheme.
As per the new scheme, marks can be given for multiple choice questions in which the right answer or option (a, b, c…etc.) has been denoted. There are at least six such questions in the question paper. The scheme published by the government allows marks only for the right answer, not when the option is mentioned.
Students will also get marks for a question that did not have any correct options if they provide the right answer or any of the given options.
There are also a number of questions for which additional correct answers have been provided in the scheme that were not present in the previous scheme. For instance, for a question ‘What is aspirin’, the answer scheme published earlier mentioned acetylsalicylic acid, the new scheme allowed marks for ‘2-acetoxybenzoic acid/structure of aspirin/analgesic/pain killer.’ Similarly, to a question on the name of any one antioxidant used in food materials, the answer in the first published scheme mentioned BHT/BHA, but the fresh scheme granted marks for other examples too.
Welcoming the new answer scheme, teachers said it was how an answer scheme should be, and they would resume valuation as per the new scheme from Wednesday. “We were protesting against the lack of clarity in the scheme published earlier. These corrections were what we had been seeking,” a teacher said.
The Directorate of General Education issued a circular asking all teachers to resume valuation duties. Valuation of Chemistry answer scripts should be done only according to the new scheme, it said. The morning session on Wednesday could be used to go through the answer scheme. A circular would be issued on steps to be taken in connection with the 28,000 papers already valued.
Meanwhile, Plus Two Chemistry teachers have taken exception to the bid to portray them as anti-government. Teachers said the government was trying to show them in a bad light by insisting that there was a problem only with the Chemistry valuation, and not with that of the remaining higher secondary subjects.
The decision to boycott was a spontaneous one, they said in response to the criticism about no notice being given ahead of valuation.
They also questioned the government claim that the answer scheme prepared by the teachers was rejected, as it contained scope for awarding more marks than what was stipulated for questions and what the students deserved. With Chemistry papers undergoing a double valuation, teachers could not award marks as they wished lest they be asked for explanations and action taken against them, they said.
[ad_2]
Source link
