Syllabus confusion in Inter question papers

A goof-up occurred in the Intermediate public exams held on Monday in some districts as question papers with the old syllabus were distributed to students giving the exam for the new syllabus.

The error happened as the centres had question papers with both the old and new syllabus as some students were appearing for the exams having studied the old syllabus.

The mix-up occurred at some exam centres in Karimnagar, Kurnool, Kadapa, Nalgonda and Visakhapatnam. The exam was conducted for first year students in the subjects of mathematics, civics, botany and psychology.

Though there was no problem for the science stream students, the officials at some centres distributed the wrong question papers for the arts stream students.

However, the officials rectified the problem after some students brought the issue to their notice, and even made an exception for old students, reappearing for the exam.

“Some students who had failed the exam two or three years ago, demanded new syllabus question papers (even though they are old students) saying that they prepared for the exams in the new syllabus. The invigilators obliged and gave them new papers, even though this is against the norms,” said Mr G. Balaramaiah, secretary, Board of Intermediate Education (BIE).

And, he made it clear that the students will not be put to loss for the goof-up.

“The answer scripts of the students who wrote the exam in the respective syllabus of old and new formats will be valued as per their question paper only. Hence, this cannot be treated as a deviation or irregularity,” he explained.

Though the Board put the official figure of students affected by the goof-up at just 25, reports from the districts indicated that the number could be more than 600.