Despite being present for exam, student marked absent; DCPCR orders ATR from authorities

New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) has found grave violations in a case where a student, despite being present for a practical exam, was marked absent by the school authority. The child rights body has now directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to ensure that the student is awarded marks exactly what he scored and not on a pro-rata basis.

As per the child rights body, they received a complaint from the student's father that his son was marked absent in his class 12th mathematics practical assessment for the academic year 2019-2020 despite scoring 17 marks out of 20. The complainant was called for a meeting with the regional officer CBSE where he was told that instead of 17 marks, his child will be scored 4 out of 20 marks on a pro-rata basis.

Anurag Kundu, chairperson, DCPCR said they started their enquiry and directed all authorities including the Directorate of Education (DoE) and CBSE to file an explanation into the matter. "CBSE informed that it was declared on the basis of the marks uploaded by the school (Patrachar Vidyalaya). Since the school marked the student absent, they declared the result accordingly," DCPCR said. CBSE later sought clarification on the marks from school, but it was again shared in response that the child was absent. Accordingly, CBSE decided not to change the marks of the child.

The school told the child rights body that just a day before the commencement of classes, the student requested a change of examination centre. "Such matters are not regular matters he remained enrolled in both the centres. Due to this confusion, wrong marks were submitted to CBSE," the school told in its reply to the child rights body.

During the enquiry, the child rights body found violations from the school level. "The centre change information was not given to the original centre which resulted in the previous centre marking the child absent inadvertently. This was the fault from the school side," said a DCPCR official.

The CBSE, through a circular, to DCPCR said corrections in the internal grade once uploaded will not be accepted by the board. The child rights body said by giving him four out of 20 marks, the CBSE violates his rights to education and their policy seeks to punish the victim who was having no-fault.

The child rights body has now directed CBSE to amend its policy suitably and award marks as it is, not pro-rata. DoE (Delhi Government)was directed to initiate proceedings, under the service rules act, against CBSE and then the principal of the school. They were told to ensure that such procedural background does not happen again. "DoE was told to compensate the child with Rs 50,000 for the mental trauma he faced," the DCPCR official said adding that authorities were asked to submit an action taken report within 60 days.