Blind students in fix over qualification rules for scribes

Tribune News Service

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, March 29

Unable to find a junior student as a writer for board exams, Kamal Madan, a visually impaired Class X student, travelled from Panipat to the office of the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) in Bhiwani to seek special permission for allowing a senior student as a scribe but was turned back.

Efforts on to arrange writers

The decision to fix educational qualification rules for scribes has been taken after deliberating on the complaints received. We are trying to arrange scribes for the students. Prof Jagbir Singh, BSEH Chairman

Reason: The BSEH’s notification dated March 11 says the qualification of the scribe has to be lower than that of the candidates.

“It is not easy to find junior scribes. The Class IX exams are coinciding with our papers. Similarly, Class XI students are also taking the exams. When I told the board officials that the Himachal Pradesh prescribes no qualification rules for the scribes, I was taunted whether I was living in Haryana or HP,” said Kamal, a student of the Government Institute for the Blind, Panipat.

“No one listens to us. This rule was introduced last year, but the board exams were not conducted due to Covid. Before that, there was no qualification criterion for scribes and we could get anyone to write the paper for us. New rules have put us at a disadvantage,” said Ajay, Class XII student of the Panipat institute.

Meanwhile, principal of the Government Institute for the Blind Manish Jain said they had recently approached the state board for allowing seniors to write the board exams but were not allowed. He said they faced a lot of difficulties in arranging the scribes as parents were not relenting on sending their wards due to Covid.

“Some Class IX and XI exams are coinciding with Class X and XII papers, respectively. Though after making a number of efforts, we have arranged the scribes for the students.”

Notably, the 2013 guidelines of the Centre say that there should not be any fixed criteria of educational qualification for the scribe. “When the schools don’t provide the scribe, the qualification should not be fixed. The BSEH is not complying with the Centre’s directions. Moreover, the minimum qualification of a scribe should not be less than matriculation,” said Ajai Srivastava, chairman, Umang Foundation, an NGO, in his complaint on the behalf of blind students before the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Haryana State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (HSCPCR). Srivastava has been fighting for the disabled students in HP too.

Due to Srivastava’s efforts, the HP Board of School Education on March 15 removed the condition of education qualification for the scribes, saying instead invigilation system should be strengthened.

Meanwhile, HSCPCR chairman Jyoti Bainda said they had sought a reply from the BSEH on the complaint.

BSEH chairman Prof Jagbir Singh, however, said: “Once a teacher was found appearing for a candidate and invigilators are not expected to keep tabs on the scribes all the time. The decision to fix educational qualification rules for scribes has been taken after deliberating on the plaints received. We are fully cooperating to provide scribes.”

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