SURAT: In what is being seen as a major gaffe by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) authorities, the science and technology exam’s multiple-choice questions (MCQ) paper for the ongoing Class X board exam on Saturday turned out to be a real challenge for the blind students. A common question paper set for all the students left the visually-impaired examinees baffled when they were asked to select images.With such students never being introduced to graphics, they were tasked to identify shapes and chart, besides identifying objects in electric circuit image!The blind students were entirely dependant on their writers who tried their utmost to give them a detailed explanation, even by drawing the shapes on the palms. Many students failed to answer the set of four visual questions as they could not understand the objects at all.“It is unusual to ask visually challenged students questions that include graphics. It seems the question paper setter did not take into consideration blind examinees. These blind students will now lose four marks for answering them incorrectly, or for not attempting at all,” a teacher rued.Blind school teachers claim that the issue can be addressed only by the GSHSEB authorities.Sources informed that answer sheets of blind students have been made into a separate bundle and sent for checking so that these students can be given marks. “The board usually provides optional questions to blind students and also gives a note in the question paper on this, but today there were no such options given. In this condition the board will have to give these blind students marks directly,” a senior teacher said.Bhagirathsinh Parmar, a zonal officer for class X exam said that he has not received any information on this. “But if we receive any complaint, the board will take some decision,” he added.Senior officials of the GSHSEB said that they would review the issue and find out whether the students were asked more questions with graphics. He also said that the board has not received any complaint till date on the issue.

Stay updated with all the Latest Surat headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.