SHILLONG: The SSLC students who wrote the MBoSE English question paper (new course) on Tuesday were in for a surprise as a question on virtue had unusual contradictions.
The paper was for regular candidates with internal assessment.
Under Section-A, ‘Read the following passage carefully’, it was mentioned in the second paragraph that “the less you are attached to your virtues, the more self-respect you have. When you get attached to your virtues, you look down upon others and then your virtues start diminishing. Non-attachment to virtues brings the highest self-respect”.
The first paragraph talks about two types of respect and goes on to say that smile can bring respect.
“The first is respect that comes to you because of your position, fame or wealth. This type of respect is impermanent. It can be lost once you lose your wealth or status. The second type of respect comes because of your smile and your virtues such as honesty, kindness, commitment and patience. This respect no one can take away,” the paragraph says.
Based on these, the question put forward is
How can one easily lose one of these respects?
(i) Through losing position, fame, status and wealth
(ii) Through non-attachment to virtues
(iii) Through being kind and honest
Another set of question is: What brings highest self-respect?
(i) Dishonesty
(ii) Envy
(iii) Disdain
(iv) Non-attachment to virtues
UDP leader Bindo Lanong, who detected the mistake, has expressed shock over the contradictions in the question paper.
“This will affect the future of students and on the first day, it has created confusion in the minds of students,” he said.
Lanong also called for corrective measures. “It is not that the one who prepared the question paper does not know the meaning of virtue, but something is curiously wrong,” he added.