26 April 2010
Punjab, India
On Saturday, the High Court had directed the CBSE to give the boy an extra hour to write AIEEE
Defeating the purpose of de–tressing a disabled child in the examination hall, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) ended up making the situation more stressful for a dyslexic student on Sunday.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday had directed the CBSE to give an extra hour to Pranjay Jain, who was to appear in the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE) on Sunday.
The candidate was given the extra one hour but he was videotaped during the exam.
Pranjay, a student of Class XII, was shocked when he went inside the examination hall in Vivek High School, Sector 38.
“I was videotaped throughout both the papers. During paper I, the camera was put on a stand in front of me and during the second paper, it was kept on a desk beside me,” Pranjay said. “It was impossible to concentrate. Of the four hours, I was videotaped for almost three hours.”
Pranjay’s parents blamed the CBSE. “The child has been criminalised. This is a mockery of the education system, which aims at inclusive education. They have mentally traumatised the child by pin–pointing on his disability,” Pranjay’s father, Dr Nitin Jain, said.
He added: “The move to empower a child with disability has been undone by this act. Is this some kind of punishment given to the child who has demanded his right to education, or is this some kind of warning given to other children with similar kind of disability who dare to ask for similar rights?”
Pranjay was reportedly videotaped on the directions of the CBSE Regional Director Dr D R Yadav.
‘I can videotape whoever I want’
When Newsline contacted Yadav, he initially justified it by claiming that it was the High Court’s order. But when he was informed that the HC had passed no such order, he said he had videotaped the student “at his own discretion”.
“I can videotape whoever and wherever I want at my own discretion. I have videotaped the entire centre,” Yadav said.
Later in the evening, Yadav called up Newsline and said the child was videotaped for two reasons — because he was given one hour extra as directed by the High Court, and to ensure that there was no malpractice involved during the extra hour.
Yadav added that since no other dyslexic student took the AIEEE in the city, no candidate except Pranjay was videotaped.
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