Chaos reins at exam centres after syllabus goof up in question paper

The non-NEP students, appearing for their reappear exam of Punjabi (elective) and English (elective) conducted by Panjab University in the morning session today, were in for a surprise when they were handed over question papers containing the syllabus prescribed under the New Education Policy, 2020, which was only implemented in the current session. Resultantly, the university had to cancel the paper and announce a fresh date for the same.

Dr Harjeet Singh, centre superintendent, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sudhar, shared that the candidates suffered due to the mix up. “Answer sheets are generally distributed 15 minutes prior to the start of the exam so that the examinees can fill the title page correctly. The same was followed today, but as the invigilators distributed the question papers students began to whisper amongst themselves. Asked about the reason, they said the papers of elective Punjabi and elective English were not as per the prescribed syllabus,” the superintendent shared.

“We immediately informed the university, which in turn said they were calling a meeting for the same and that the students should not be allowed to leave the centre till any fresh announcement is made in this regard. Till then the commotion in the examination centre went beyond control as the students refused to attempt a paper which was in no way from the syllabus they were prescribed,” he said.

The superintendent said it was at 11.15 am, almost after one and a half hour, when they were notified that the papers of all elective subjects, including Punjabi, English and Hindi, had been cancelled and the exam would now be conducted on May 30.

It was learnt that the Hindi (elective) question paper was set correctly and the students were writing the exam, but after the announcement their exam, too, was cancelled.

“Our Hindi (elective) paper was from within the syllabus and we had attempted almost half of it when we came to know that it was cancelled and rescheduled. We fail to understand why we, too, have been made scapegoats,” shared a student of Hindi (elective) of a city centre. The situation was no different in the other centres of the city where the exam was being conducted.