-Dipta Joshi

In Pune, the entire batch of 100 class X students of the PB Jog English Medium Primary School, Kothrud, (estb.1995) is disgruntled about their Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board exam results declared July 22. The school has as many as 80 students failing in more than one subject with marks in single digits. 

With the school’s topper having secured just 67 percent, even students who managed to clear the exam want to get their papers re-evaluated in hope of improving their existing scores. While the school management says the poor results are probably a technical glitch at the board level, angry  parents blame the school for neglecting their children’s studies during a crucial exam year.

The P.B. Jog English Medium Primary School is a co-educational K-10 school run by the Jog Educational Trust. Formerly a state board affiliated school, the school’s current class X batch is its first such batch to have written the CBSE board papers. The school allegedly received its CBSE affiliation for class X as late as December this year.

According to parents, the school did not conduct the CBSE exams held countrywide on November 30-December 1, 2021 since it did not receive the term I exam question papers from the CBSE board on account of its pending affiliation issue. The school authorities however convinced parents of a smooth sailing for their wards on the basis of internal marks that all CBSE affiliated schools needed to submit to the board.

This year, for the first time the CBSE board conducted class X exams in two phases in view of COVID related school closures and online teaching-learning. While the term I exams had MCQs, the term II papers were subjective. The final results have been declared taking into account the students’ term I and II scores. While 30 percent weightage has been given to the term I result, 70 percent has been given to term II marks.

 The parents now hold the school guilty of not submitting term I exam marks to the CBSE board. Students too complain they received little pre-board guidance in their online classes during the academic year and attended physical classes only in February and March. They say the school handed them their term II hall tickets just a couple of days before the exams on April 26, 2022.

“We never attempted term I boards or answered multiple choice questions (MCQs). The school used to ask us to write our periodic test papers at home and submit them at school. Post our pre-board preliminary exam wherein most students didn’t fare well, the school arranged to have external teachers take extra maths, science, English and Sanskrit language classes during the last 15 days,” says a class X student who did not want to be identified publicly. Scoring marks as low as 7 and 3 in two subjects, she says she was confident of scoring a minimum of 70 percent in the boards.

“There has been a lot of uncertainty. Many students left the school after the first term, many didn’t turn up when physical classes resumed. Unfortunately none of the topics that the external teachers focused on during the 15 day period came in the papers. I opted for external coaching during the last one month and was happy with my performance,” says another student who was expecting to score a minimum of 75 percent but scored 47 percent only.

Surprisingly, the entire school staff – watchmen to school principal, who catered to the 2021-22 cohorts  has been replaced even as the school’s parent community is struggling to find a way out. The new staff claims to know nothing about the matter.

Amol Jog director, Jog Educational Trust as well as other school authorities remained unavailable to take queries from EducationWorld. However, in an earlier comment to a regional news media Jog had mentioned, “As a state board affiliated school we always posted cent percent results. However, this was our first CBSE batch to write class X exams since we got  our affiliation at the beginning of the academic year, 2021-22. Assessment and marks calculation is done by the CBSE board so how is the school responsible for the poor scores? Those who are unsatisfied with their marks can always apply for re-evaluation.”

Officials at CBSE’s Pune regional office say the board was yet to receive an official letter from the school management but would initiate an inquiry into the school’s poor results should the school approach it. While the school management has tried to pass off the problem as a technical problem in the board’s assessment procedures, the school’s parents are demanding written proof of all marks submitted to the CBSE board.

“We are confident of our children’s performance but we are worried the procedural delays in receiving the re-evaluated final scores may be too late for our children to apply to good colleges. We trusted the school to guide us since we were unaware of the CBSE’s procedures and now our children are suffering the consequences,” says a parent who refused to be identified.

Maharashtra’s overall performance in the CBSE exams was 97.4 percent this year. With the CBSE results out, the state government opened admissions to first year junior college Tuesday (July 26). 

Also read: CBSE Class-10 results: 94.4 per cent students pass exam