The Central Board of Secondary Education has said that it will take strict action against responsible persons after a question asked in the class 12 exams triggered outrage. The question in Term 1 exam for the first class 12 exams under board exams 2022 had asked to name the political party under whose regime the Gujarat riots in 2002 took place.
Question number 23 in the Sociology paper asked, “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-muslim violence in Gujarat in 2022 took place under which government?”, and had the options Congress, BJP, Democratic and Republican to choose from as the answer.
After the image of the question appeared, it created an outrage on social media, as the question has been deemed highly inappropriate.
यह प्रश्न राजस्थान में 12 वीं कक्षा के सोशियोलॉजी विषय में पूछा गया है?
— Diwakar Chaudhary (@DiwakerDeshwal) December 1, 2021
हिन्दुओं के खिलाफ इतना घृणित व डराने वाला षड़यंत्र इसी देश में चल रहा है?#RajasthanNews, #CBSE@narendramodi pic.twitter.com/kQPGa9OOLq
Netizens commented that CBSE is creating Hindu-Muslim conflict in the mind the children and motivating them to hate BJP. Some also pointed out that CBSE was asking an anti-BJP question when BJP is in power at the centre.
#Sociology 12वीं की परीक्षा का यह प्रश्नपत्र है @dpradhanbjp जी आपके संज्ञान में होना आवश्यक है। बाक़ी तंत्र बहुत मज़बूत है @narendramodi @cbseindia29 कल्पना कीजिए कि बच्चों के दिमाग़ में हिन्दू मुसलमान का ज़हर और @BJP4India के प्रति घृणा कैसे भरी जा रही है pic.twitter.com/lerdn2ZmDp
— हर्ष वर्धन त्रिपाठी 🇮🇳Harsh Vardhan Tripathi (@MediaHarshVT) December 1, 2021
Reacting to the widespread criticism, CBSE issued a statement saying that the question was inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines. The statement posted on social media said, “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”.
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
Saying that strict actions will be taken for this ‘error’, the central secondary education body further said, “CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons”.
The 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.
— CBSE HQ (@cbseindia29) December 1, 2021
Further explaining the policy for setting question papers, the CBSE wrote, “The 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.”
The CBSE Class 12 Term 1 board exam 2022 started on November 16, and will conclude on December 30. Candidates are appearing for the minor subjects in this exam. Students have to mark their answers on OMR sheets as all questions are in multiple-choice format.
