Blunder Overturns SSLC Rank - Mysore Girl Becomes SSLC Topper
DHNS
Mysore, May 29: Aishwarya is not used to being second. So she was jarred, if not stunned, to discover that the marks she scored in one of the SSCL examination papers this year were far below her expectations.
A revaluation increased the tally for the paper —Social Science —from 84 to 97 and catapulted her to first position in the entire State.
But hold on a minute. Aishwarya’s success is Sanjana’s misery. While Aishwarya’s total marks now stand at 618/625, Sanjana, who was declared the topper (617) has slid to second rank.
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Who ought to take the blame for such gross negligence that has affected the rankers’ fortunes? One need not look any farther than the education authorities in general and the examiner in particular.
The Deccan Herald could not contact any SSLC official on Thursday for comments. In fact, Aishwarya’s case is the second in successive years when the SSLC Board goofed up on marks and rankings. This is almost a virtual replay of the SSLC 2008 examination results, where Kavya Sharath from Poorna Prajna Education Centre, Malleswaram, emerged State topper after revaluation. Kavya had obtained 618 marks, the highest in the SSLC examination, after she applied for revaluation.
The Karnataka Secondary Education and Examination Board had in the previous SSLC examination bungled with evaluation, where Kavya, following revaluation, could raise her marks from 606 to 618.
Aishwarya’s father N S Shivanna was all humility when asked if he would hold the SSLC authorities responsible for the blunder. “The error could have taken place because the results were announced in haste. I was confident about my daughter’s performance.
What if this happened with a poor girl?”he asked.
A student of Marimallapa’s High School here, Aishwarya stood fourth in State-wide rankings when the SSLC examination results were declared slightly over three weeks ago. She scored 605 out of a maximum of 625. According to the marks card, she secured 84 in Social Studies. She was sure she had performed much better than the marks reflected. Agonised and anxious, Aishwarya spoke to her parents and school principal who advised her to apply to the SSLC Board for a photo-copy of the Social Studies answer script.
She was shocked to find out that the examiner had failed to correctly add the marks she obtained for each of the answers. She was given 84 while the total should have been 94.
The matter was taken up with the Board director and 10 marks were added to the total.
But Aishwarya would not give up easily. She applied for revaluation which gave her three additional marks, taking the total for the paper to 97 and her overall marks to 618, pipping her ahead of Sanjana who was from Carmel School, Bangalore.