New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Wednesday said it was an “error” as a question on the 2002 Gujarat riots made its way to the Sociology examination paper for Class 12 students. The exam was held Wednesday.
The question — “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which government?” — was part of the term 1 question paper.
A multiple-choice question, it came with four options for students to choose from — BJP, Congress, Democratic and Republican.
The CBSE acknowledgement, issued Wednesday evening on social media, came after the board received complaints from various quarters regarding the question, said sources. The board has initiated an inquiry into the matter, and promised “strict action against the responsible persons”.
A question has been asked in today's class 12 sociology Term 1 exam which is inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines for external subject experts for setting question papers.CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons
— CBSE HQ (@cbseindia29) December 1, 2021
The 2002 Gujarat riots had led to the death and displacement of hundreds. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state at the time.
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What the board said
In another tweet Wednesday, the board said “CBSE guidelines for paper setters clearly state that they have to ensure the questions should be academic oriented only and should be class, religion neutral and should not touch upon domains that could harm sentiments of people based on social and political choices”.
According to reports, however, the question on the Gujarat riots was not the only problem with the question paper.
Academicians have reportedly pointed out alleged errors in the questions, such as all wrong options being given for a certain multiple-choice question. Some questions were allegedly based on subjects that were not part of the syllabus.
According to an expert quoted by The Indian Express, there were issues with as many as four questions in the sociology paper.
The board has, however, not said anything yet about the other allegations.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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