Disabled allowed facility of scribe in board examinations

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 17

The Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE) has made changes in the notification issued on February 4, 2022, regarding exemptions/ relaxations allowed to persons with benchmark disabilities for the board examinations. As per the changes done, the facility of a scribe, reader or a lab assistant will be allowed to any person having 40 per cent disability or more during the board exam. The candidate will also have the discretion to opt for his own scribe or request the examination body for the same.

The HPBSE says that the examining body may also identify the scribes or readers or lab assistants to form committees at the district/ division/ state level, as per the requirements of the examination.

The criteria like educational qualification, marks scored, age or other such restrictions for the scribe should not be fixed. Instead, the invigilation system should be strengthened so that the candidates using the services of scribes do not indulge in malpractices such as copying and cheating during the examination. Now, the candidates will also be allowed to take more than one scribe for writing different papers.

The changes in the notification have been made after Chairman of the Umang Foundation Ajay Srivastav, who is also a member of the State Disability Advisory Board, accused the HPBSE of flouting the directions of the state government regarding providing a writer to the visually impaired and persons with disability for the board examination.

Srivastav pointed out that the board had ignored the government instructions issued in 2021 regarding providing writers to such students while the notification issued on February 4, 2022, contained several objectionable points.

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