Mathew Peedikayil, a member in our homeschooling email list reported an alarming experience her son had during his Maths exam with the National Institute of Open Schooling. Here is a copy of the email:

Hi Mathew and all Homeschool parents,

Thought Max and I (Gillian) would just update you on the Math exam that Jeremy (our son aged 15 yrs) sat for on October 29, 2013. Mathew, you are aware of a few details but thought I would record the entire happening for the information and awareness of all parents whose children may sit for the NIOS examinations, henceforth.

Our son Jeremy sat for his 10th Math paper on Oct 29 2013 after much preparation because the portion is quite vast and not very easy. The paper was from 2 to 5 pm. He began well and after completing about 60 % of his paper, he asked the Supervisor for an extra answer supplement. The first supplement had apparently 28 pages. The Supervisor, however, refused to give him an extra supplement to complete his paper. Shocked and taken aback Jeremy asked if he could use the extra paper he had in his bag. Obviously, the request was turned down. So Jeremy came away with an incomplete paper having finished only around 65% of his paper.

This was really upsetting for us since Math was to be his main subject when he enrolled in college. The next day, I tried to get through to some official in the NIOS Regional Office to no avail. While browsing through the net, I spotted a web page which said CONTROL ROOM. So I called again to no avail. It is generally difficult to get through to any NIOS office on telephone. However, this time about an hour later, we received a call from one of the numbers I tried calling and it happened to be a director of NIOS. He asked us to write a letter to the office stating whatever happened. Which we did.

A week or two later we received a reply from them stating that what the Supervisor did was in line with a clause in chapter 7 of the Guidelines for Centre Superintendents.

Being people who believe in Jesus and the power of prayer, we prayed and asked God to show us what step we should take for the good of our son and for as many children who will benefit from this experience, Max and I felt we should take this forward and challenge this clause as it is illogical and unfair to students. We were lead to take legal action through a group of young lawyers who willingly took up our case. We are hoping for either of these two outcomes: 1) The clause would be more apparent and observable on all literature being sent to students sitting for the NIOS exam in order to prepare them adequately to complete their paper in the supplement provided and 2) this clause could be scrapped all together.

Though this will not benefit Jeremy much, since there is an option of a re-exam, we are hoping and trusting that God will do what is best for all. A writ petition will be filed this week in the form of a PIL (Public Interest Litigation).

We seek your support for the same and trust that in Christ we have the victory! We would also like to know if any of your kids have had a similar experience with the NIOS examinations, since this will strengthen our case and would benefit all.

With kind regards,

Max and Gillian Fernand

Priya Desikan, one of the members of our homeschooling group connected with Mr. Anil Nair, Coordinator- NIOS, Trivandrum (voluntary post).

Dear All,

The shocking experience elaborated here needs a soothing answer. Eeventhough I am not a paid official of NIOS, I am coordinating some activities of NIOS at local level.

I share the agony of the parent as I myself a parent of an NIOSian. First of all this being a Open Learner, you must keep in regular touch with your co-ordinator (normally Head of the School). People often do Online Registration and just go for the examination.

Fixing the rules and Regulation is essential for World’s largest examination. It should be tamper proof and trustworthy.

Before playing any game, knowing the rules is the player’s duty and not only of Referee’s. The parent should have spent a little more time on this as 48 pages is fixed not for the particular student but for the learners world over for three hours.

I suggest him to appear for ODES (On Demand Examination) at your Regional Centre without wasting any time and personally contact Regional Director as Regional Directors are to extent local support to redress such grievances.( Remember, on ODES also you get same answer book)

Simultaneously legal action may be initiated but that wont give any relief to the learner.

I am very happy to reply to number of mails received on matters relate to NIOS.

Kindly address such queries on anil_vs_usa@yahoo.com.

Regards Er.Anil Nair, Ex I A F

Apart from the instructions that may be of use to Gillian’s son, this seems important to me:

Fixing the rules and Regulation is essential for World’s largest examination. It should be tamper proof and trustworthy.

How to achieve this has not been mentioned, but the agreement that there is a problem that needs to be fixed is important. In the meanwhile, the parents of the child are filing a Public Interest Litigation to demand better transparency in the process and are open to other parents adding their voice to the process. If you are interested, get in touch with me and I will connect you to them.

Update: Matthew reports that the Public Interest Litigation has already been filed, and the points to be urged are as follows:

I. Points to be urged:

a.)   That the rule of examination provided under Chapter No 7.7.1.5 of the Guideline for Centre Superintendents is arbitrary and prevents students in a Theory Examination from having sufficient writing space to produce their answers.

b.)   In any case the rule concerning additional answer sheets must be well publicized to the Students and Parents both orally and with a written intimation in a conspicuous place such as the Hall Ticket or on the first/original answer sheet.

c.)   That before the said rule in Chapter 7.7.1.5 of the Guidelines for Centre Superintendents is enforced, the very same rules mandate that the invigilator is to announce the said rule before the commencement of every examination paper. The invigilator failed to make any such announcement in the case of the examinations taken by the Petitioners son.