Cuttack: Members of State Level-5 (Ex-Cadre) Teachers’ Association and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Monday, gheraoed the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) office here, Monday, condemning the erroneous Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) 2019 answer key published by the BSE, October 9.
The agitators alleged that around 50 per cent of the questions and answers were erroneous. Besides, a few questions had Tamil and Bengali words which created issues for several examinees. Moreover, the question paper was also leaked a few minutes before the commencement of the test, they alleged.
Later in the day, the agitators submitted a memorandum to BSE secretary Ramashis Hazra. “Thousands of examinees had to bear the brunt of the callousness of BSE. We demand justice. We’ll intensify the agitation if the BSE fails to address the goof up and award grace marks to the examinees,” association secretary Shivlal Sahoo said.
When contacted, the BSE secretary assured to look into it. “We’ve received the memorandum. We’ll check the facts and action will be taken thereon,” Hazra said.
According to sources, the OTET examination was conducted online in 45 shifts between August 5 and 15. The answer key released by BSE has several mistakes.
“For instance: Question-265 asked about the 26th Governor of Odisha. And it had four options like Professor Ganeshi Lal, Satyapal Malik, Naveen Patnaik and Ram Nayak. At a time when the correct answer should be Professor Ganeshi Lal, BSE claims it as Naveen Patnaik. Another answer about the location of Odisha’s Chandipur left students baffled. Surprisingly, the answer released by BSE says it as Bhadrak when it should have been Balasore,” said an agitator belonging to ABVP.
Sources said the last date for raising objections to faulty questions or answers (if any) was extended from October 10 to October 13 midnight.
Notably, the BSE had cancelled the test, which was scheduled to be conducted offline, over alleged leak of question paper that went viral on social media, January 16. Later, the examination was conducted in August. And this time, too, the exam papers were found doing the rounds on social media a few minutes before the commencement of the exam. The BSE, however, denied allegations of any paper leak.