UP-board students leave pleas, poetry, money in answer-sheets for marks!
As the UP education board cracked the whip on mass cheating, over 10L students (15%) skipped the school board exams in the first four days. Turns out, many of those who did appear didn't plan to start studying; they had other tricks up their sleeves. Evaluators have found the most bizarre of appeals in answer-sheets, ranging from poetry to mercy pleas to bribes!
'Would you have failed me if I was your daughter?'
"With folded hands I request you to forgive me. I am from a poor family and have saved this money by stitching clothes. I did not have books for studies. I had to make do with other people's books," reads a message in a Hindi answer-sheet evaluated at CAV Inter College. Would the evaluator have failed her if she was their daughter, she asked.
'It's my girlfriend, she distracted me!'
Another blamed his love life for his poor performance: "I studied till high school sincerely and got good marks. But after falling in love with Pooja, I could not study well for this exam as the love story distanced me from studies." Yet another wished upon their evaluator "heavenly rewards" besides blessings of the examinee as well as his family' if they passed him.
Nothing to write? No worry, slip bribes!
Not all of them appealed to emotion, some decided to keep it light. "Chitti Chitti ja sir ke pass, sir ki marzi, fail karein ya pass (It is Sir's wish whether he passes me or not)," a student wrote a couplet-cum-appeal. And then there were those who just slipped currency notes - Rs. 10, 50, even 100 - for the "favor."
This is proof our anti-cheating measures are working: UP board
According to Lal Mani Diwedi, general secretary of the UP Board, this was proof that the government's anti-cheating measures had worked. "Some examines even lauded CM Yogi Adityanath's decision to check copying in UP Board exams," he said.
So have the students' heart-wrenching appeals done the trick?
An evaluator said the appeals are unlikely to make any change in the students' marks. "We award marks based on just the answers they are expected to write for the questions given in the question papers," they said. 1.4L teachers are checking over 5cr answer-sheets of UP's board exams. The evaluation is expected to be completed in about 15 days.
