New Delhi, Mar 16, 2016, (PTI) : Social media is abuzz with complaints against the "tough" maths paper for Class 12 and as many as 240 petitions have been posted on Change.org platform, getting support from 25,000 people.
Within 24 hours of the Mathematics exam, which reportedly left many students in tears, students and parents from across the country have started the online campaign for leniency in evaluation.
"Hundreds of anxious Class 12 students and their parents have started petitions on Change.org appealing the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to show leniency in evaluating the Mathematics paper that concluded yesterday," said the petition platform.
The biggest petition, with 12,500 signatures, was started by a student from Guwahati. Other petitions were started by students from Kolkata, Chennai and other cities including Thrissur.
"CBSE has broken the dreams of several students by setting a paper which was meant for IIT aspirants. This year CBSE Maths Paper was tough as well as long and has made several students cry. CBSE should come out with a statement immediately to take care of their mental agony which will help them to concentrate on their next exam," said the Guwahati petition starter in this Change.org petition.
Meanwhile, government today favoured a probe into the reported leakage of a CBSE Class XII examination paper and suggestions that the questions were rather difficult for the students, after members from several parties raised the issue in the Lok Sabha.
N K Premchandran (RSP) and K C Venugopal (Congress) said most questions of the mathematics paper were "very difficult" and out of syllabus, while referring to media reports which claimed that the questions were leaked in the Patna region.
CBSE Maths Paper Deserves Inquiry, Will Tell Smriti Irani: Venkaiah Naidu
The students' dismay over the tough CBSE Class 12 maths paper found resonance in Parliament today, with Union minister Venkaiah Naidu saying the matter "deserves inquiry" and he will convey it to HRD minister Smriti Irani.
"There are two issues here," Mr Naidu said. "Certain questions were very tough and even bright student couldn't answer them effectively... Media said some questions were leaked and even sold."
"This is a matter concerning students and their future... It deserves inquiry. I will convey it to HRD minister," the minister had added.
Congress's KC Venugopal and RSP's NK Premachandran had raised the issue yesterday. "I urge the government to look into the exam and take necessary steps," Mr Venugopal had said.
SR Vijayakumar from AIADMK, too, had said a number of students felt that the paper was lengthy and they could not complete it. "I request the Human Resource Minister to look at the issue" and tell the CBSE to be liberal in valuation, he had added.
A majority of students appearing for the maths exam, held on March 14, have complained that the paper was "unusually tough and lengthy". Many were left in tears and there were reports that the paper had been leaked before the exam.
Complaints have poured in from across the country to online forums. The CBSE, which has about 20,000 affiliated schools across India, is yet to react on the issue.
In 2015, the board had to review the Maths paper after similar complaints, and had also considered giving a relaxation in the marking for the paper.