Questions carrying 15 marks ‘missing’ from PSEB Class 8 science paper; students hassled

The students appearing for Class – 8 science board exam were harassed Friday after three questions (of 5 marks each) were “missing” from the question paper. Teachers said that the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) released an “incomplete” question paper.

The three questions were printed in English and Hindi languages but not in Punjabi which is the medium of instruction for majority students in Punjab.

After the error was noticed that questions worth 15 marks were altogether missing, the board ordered the on-duty invigilators to quickly translate the questions from English and dictate them to students in Punjabi.

Calling it a “major blunder”, former Punjab education minister and Congress MLA Pargat Singh wrote on X: “A very serious administrative and technical failure has happened in PSEB board exams. In class 8 science paper, 3 questions worth 15 marks were missing from the Punjabi version, while Hindi and English versions had all 30 questions. This is not a small mistake but a clear case of administrative negligence and discrimination against the regional language.
Over 3 lakh students in Punjabi medium have suffered a loss of nearly 19 per cent marks due to the error. Accountability must be fixed and this neglect of Punjabi language must be stopped immediately.”