Deekshith D V
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Apr 1: A day after chaos broke out throughout the state following the leak of second PU chemistry re-exam question paper, it was the turn of specially-abled students of SSLC to be at the receiving end of alleged negligence by officials of the education department.

The visually-impaired students of city's Roman and Catherine Lobo School for the Blind, who had come prepared to answer their political science paper on Friday April 1, were in for a rude shock when they found that the questions were all from the old syllabus, instead of the new one they had been taught.

As per Prof Calistus, principal of the school, the SSLC board had asked schools across the state to change the syllabus in November 2015. "They do not send circular, but we were informed about the change in syllabus. It was after many years that the syllabus was changed, but we did not get a copy of the new syllabus. When we called the board to enquire what the new syllabus should be, we were told to download it from the Textbook Society website. We did so," he said.

He further explained, "For visually-impaired students, there is provision to take political science, economics and sociogy subjects instead of mathematics and science. Seven students of our school are writing the exams this year. However, in today's political science paper, instead of questions from the new syllabus, all the questions were from the old one.

"The students somehow managed to answer as some of the questions were general. They were in tears by the end of the exam. There are students who usually secure 95 percent marks, but this kind of negligence from the department has put them in a fix," he said.

Asked whether this lapse was informed to the officials concerned, he said, "We informed the officials in Bengaluru. An official then called back and urged us not to publicize the issue and assured that extra marks would be given to the students. If they are anyway going to be given marks, why should they take so much effort to answer exams?

"After the syllabus was changed, we put in lot of efforts to teach the subjects on time for the exam, taking special classes and preparing the students.

"Tomorrow (April 2) they have economics exam which is not as easy as political science. If the same thing repeats, their future will be in jeopardy," he added.

He also said that not only his school, but schools for the visually-impaired throughout the state had faced the same problem.

Speaking to daijiworld, a student named Ankita who answered the exam said, "We had prepared well for the exame, but the questions were not from this syllabus. We tried to answer them anyway. Today it was political science which we could manage, but tomorrow we have economics which is tough."

Another student, Satwik said, "Our teacher taught us the new syllabus by taking special classes. We were prepared for the exam but it was really tough as the questions were from the old syllabus."

However, when contacted, DDPI Walter D'Mello denied any lapse. "There was no problem. The block education officer (BEO) verified before sending the question papers. The questions were according to the syllabus," he said.