JEE Main 2014: Challenging answer keys, Rs 1000 per question – really?
It was five past seven in the evening on April 28 and the answers keys of JEE Main 2014, that were supposed to be out around 2 pm that day, weren’t out yet.
After a lot of waiting and time spent refreshing the official websites of JEE Main and CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), the answer keys for the exam were finally released in the evening around 8:00 pm (though we had lost all hopes of it releasing that day).
According to the official website, after the release of the answer keys, the test takers could challenge the answer keys, if they thought it had errors, by paying an amount of Rs 1000 per question. So, basically, the whole process involved these steps:
- Release of answer keys
- Challenging answer keys, if any (within 24 hours)
- Scrutiny of challenges by subject matter experts and taking necessary action
While the Board already messed things up by releasing the answer keys around five hours late, the second step too didn’t go down well with students, parents and teachers.
A senior professor at IIT, Delhi, was quoted saying, "Charging money for challenging multiple questions reflects the typical mindset of CBSE that is involved in conducting board examinations."
He further added, "How does one expect a student to challenge within 24 hours. The ideal thing would be to give more time to all stakeholders like parents and students. After all, charging thousand rupees for each question is an expensive proposition".
We personally believe that the revaluation of answer keys is a good initiative but the procedure has its own hiccups.
The official website clearly states: “The candidates are allowed to challenge the answer keys through the link available on the website of JEE (Main) latest by 5 PM on 29/04/2014”. But the answer keys released late, around 8 pm on April 28! So, how does that amount to 24 hours?
Moreover, for a student to be able to challenge the answer keys, he/she had to pay an amount of Rs 1000 per question. Isn’t that too much to ask for challenging a single question? What if one couldn’t afford to pay the amount? And what if one wanted to challenge five questions?
Though CBSE officials (read that as the chairman) had stated that the board will accept student applications challenging the answer key without any fees, if they receive written communication from those aspirants that they cannot afford to pay the amount. Great! But, does the 24 hour policy apply for written communications too? And what’s the criteria to fit into the “ cannot afford” bracket?
I’ve personally known students who haven’t dared to challenge the answer keys despite wanting to do so because of the amount being charged to challenge the same. Talking to them popped up a question in my mind – Will it affect their scores or ranks? And shouldn’t the organising committee do something to improve the process for the benefit of students rather than making it more complicated?
It’s a known fact, that the level of competition of an exam like the JEE is extremely high and students give their heart and souls to crack it to make their way into a top engineering institute. Even a mark or two becomes very important or students can miss the rank or the score to make it to the cut-off for their dream institute. And this kind of revaluation process for JEE Main doesn’t seem to do any good to these test takers.
Another issue here is that the revaluation process for JEE Main is quite different from JEE Advanced, where students are given at-least 2-3 days to challenge answer keys. It’s this that we are arguing about, the overall process!
All said and done, we cannot ignore that the revaluation process for any exam as major as this one should be for the benefit of students to be able to give them a fair chance. But, in a situation like this - where students are not being given full 24 hours and are also being charged steeply – is it justified for the board to conclude the process so easily? Shouldn’t it consider improving the overall process of challenging answer keys and help students restore their faith in the organising body?
We, certainly, feel so!
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