SHILLONG: Principal of Pine Mount School, Aiom Ksiar Diengdoh has demanded an inquiry into the allegation of examination goof on Tuesday.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, she said the matter was blown up with the intention to sensationalise and to malign her image as well as that of the school.
She termed the leaking of false information without verifying the facts as unfortunate and said, “I am deeply pained by all this and I will seek suitable redressal to address this issue in the best possible manner. I have been very traumatised by this incident and I am still recovering from the trauma of yesterday’s events and rumours,” she said.
She informed that the matter was quickly remedied and the examinations were conducted without a glitch. She also informed that there was no shortage of answer sheets.
Diengdoh explained that there are two kinds of sheets – generic for extra paper which can be used for any examination and the other is a 16-page answer sheet where the students have to write their unique id, index number, subject and number of continuation booklets.
The generic sheet has a cover page and can be used for any examination such as history, chemistry or any other paper.
“Till last year, we had these personalised sheets. In the practical papers, the personalised data is not there. But in all the theory papers, the personalised data is there,” she said.
Diengdoh said there are 19 students appearing for the Physics practical examinations.
Referring to media reports, she said, “It was reported that we did not have question papers but 25 question papers have been sent by the Council and we have 19 students. Hence we had an excess of 6 question papers.”
The Principal informed that she has written to the Deputy Secretary of the Council in charge of ISC examinations, 2019, Poonam Sodhi, requesting the Council to issue a note of clarification that there has been no shortcoming on her part in respect of the question papers.
Meanwhile, responding to the Principal’s statement to the media on Wednesday, a section of teachers said she is misleading everyone. The issue on Tuesday was never about question papers but about the answer scripts that were not available at the start of the examination. This was what sent the teachers and supervisor in panic mode. “No one wants to sensationalise this issue or malign the image of the school. But we have to be held accountable when things go wrong during an examination,” they said.
On the situation their children faced on Tuesday, parents said it was “unfortunate” that the Principal was playing the victim.
“It is unfortunate that the Principal should play the victim here. It is the students and teachers who panicked at not having the answer scripts at the start of the examination. But this blame game has got to stop and the government and Education department have to take stock of Pine Mount School and bring to an end the unsavoury goings-on here once and for all,” one of them said.
