GUWAHATI, July 19: Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia has demanded re-examination of the valuation criteria of the state board exams, while also requesting the chief minister to take corrective action in the wake of reports of a “cash-for-marks” scam surfacing in the state.
In an appeal to the chief minister on Monday, the Congress leader stated that a scientific system should be adopted to take the students to the next level instead, keeping in mind their future.
“An operation by police in Kamrup district had led to the arrest of an unscrupulous group collecting money in the name of valuation. Among the six apprehended included a Kamrup district school inspector and a SEBA school coordinator,” Saikia informed, adding that all those associated with the fraud (cash-for-marks scam) should be identified and punished.
The state education department had earlier constituted two advisory committees and decided not to hold the HSLC (Class 10) and HS (Class 12) exams in view of the prevailing COVID situation.
Based on the evaluation formula devised by the expert panels, the education department decided to declare the results based on the students’ performance in the previous exams.
The Congress MLA further pointed out that the party had earlier insisted that the state government should have followed the example of the Karnataka government and organised the HSLC and HS exams by following COVID protocols, increasing the number of exam centres and allowing students to answer multiple-choice questions.
“But unfortunately, the state government did not pay heed to our suggestion. As a result, some unscrupulous elements got the opportunity to play with the lives of the students,” he said.
IANS